Eight O’clock coffee is perfectly fine…usually. I had an epiphany about it erm, pre-covid. People either here or on Roadfood (before it fell) were doing the coffee nostalgia trip & talked it up. So I bought some-- it has the same flavor profile as Greater NYC Diner GOOD coffee. Ofc you can get a dud-- maybe enough to always think it poorly of it. (Hill’s Bros coffee I’m looking at you!) I bought 3 more bags after that-- 1 a dud, 1 “meh”, & 1 very good.
2 brands that came up on Roadfood that I’ll try at some point-- Mello Joy and Community Coffee.
Recent buys-- 8 O’clock --very good–, Great Value Bagged Colombian Med dark Good almost the same as the 8:00, Gevalia House Blend good, & 2 bags of TJ’s Medium Roast which were sub par (for them) but OK. I was a bit surprised that BOTH bags were meh-ish but stands to reason that the same lot will end up on the shelves.
When I do whole bean it’s usually a Costa Rican or Kenyan.
That was my buddy’s job when I was growing up. One day he showed me the ropes and that smell made me want to work there. Love that smell. Better than brewing it.
Cafe Bustelo for me. My notes say I didn’t like Cafe Pilon or Cafe Caribbean. El Morro was okay. If I’m ordering direct from Puerto Rico there are many more which make the grade, such as Yaucono.
I remember liking it a lot when they pioneered mail order coffee delivery, but we dont like the major dickasons beans that costco carries here from time to time. Like starbucks to me it seems to have slipped in quality. We have also moved to a bit lighter roast - except when we are in Italy. Do you think Peets has changed over the years?
I can’t comment on the Major Dickinson’s, I saw it at Costco earlier this week. It is a dark roast. We like their House Blend and French Roast and haven’t noticed any change in our taste other than with having Covid. Or maybe our tastes just diminish with our older age. Peet’s is available at our Safeway and Walmart chain stores. The Mauna Loa company used to sell ‘Kona’ coffee, stateside, years ago and that was tasty.
I used to spend the equivalent of the national debt monthly for custom ground Peet’s. For some reason I can’t remember, I tried “Four Sisters Donut Shoppe” blend, $5.99/lb at Grocery Outlet. It tastes just fine at 6am. As does their “French Roast”. Have no idea what I’ve done with all the money I’ve saved.
I stopped what had been an almost daily iced latte / cappuccino habit.
Whatever money I once spent on daily lattes (and movies, cosmetics, hair colour, blow outs, skiing, concert tickets, theatre, travel, bridesmaid duties, bridal shower gifts, wedding gifts, baby shower gifts, baby gifts, housewarming gifts, it’s nice to have aged out of some life phases that were expensive ) is being spent on plants, seeds, gardening gear, and a wider selection of dog treats.
I haven’t stopped entirely, but brewing at home certainly beats purchasing out, price wise, and as far as I’m concerned, taste-wise. I can pick up some non-precious locally roasted beans, grind them myself, and enjoy some good coffee.
But the lazy, the inexperienced, the socially addicted, the pound-foolish, and the easily impressed are legion. I mean, why make your own over-roasted coffee when you can get yours in a paper cup to wash down those exquisite rubber egg bites?
Last week I found, in a box of assorted other junk, a Starbucks gift card. Who knows if it has any value left?
Ugh. I bought some once - not from a Starbucks or any such place - sous vide egg bites. They were one of the absolute worst things I’d ever had the misfortune of ingesting.
I’ve evidently saved a good deal of cash over the years by being pitifully un-hip.
) is being spent on plants, seeds, gardening gear, and a wider selection of dog treats. 
