Pilot Juice

Coffee is fun, and can be as complex as wine.

I try lots of different whole-bean coffees, and often hit Cost Plus World Market, and other places.

I also used to do the Farmer’s Markets before Covid shut many of them down.

When I worked in Hollywood, I would often stop at the Beverly Hills coffee roasters. It was near Beverly and Dayton but has been out-of-business for a while.

sip and enjoy!
 
Tarheelpilot said:
Sounds like you don’t like scotch. Probably shouldn’t drink it. I like scotch. Have from the first sip. No acquisition required other than buying the bottle. I wouldn’t drink the stuff if it wasn’t good.
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Yep! I agree, I don't. To me it tastes like Irish whiskey that was in a house fire...but some people love it at first sip. That I can understand. I don't understand why someone would try to learn to like a beverage they didn't like, though.
 
I am a cheap rascal. I really do like Seattle's Best Post Alley. Dark and complex. Drink it straight up black from either a pour-over at work, or a French press here at home. It's also easy on the wallet - about $4.50 at our local HEB. Other than that, I do like a nice Italian roast. I've had Peets' Major Dickason, and I liked it.
 
Albany Tom said:
Yep! I agree, I don't. To me it tastes like Irish whiskey that was in a house fire...but some people love it at first sip. That I can understand. I don't understand why someone would try to learn to like a beverage they didn't like, though.
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I don’t either. It’s illogical, but people do weird stuff.
 
Albany Tom said:
Yep! I agree, I don't. To me it tastes like Irish whiskey that was in a house fire...but some people love it at first sip. That I can understand. I don't understand why someone would try to learn to like a beverage they didn't like, though.
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Peer pressure in youth. I first drank a lot of coffee when I was in college. My friends would sit at the local greasy spoon all afternoon drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. The coffee was not today’s barista grade, but more akin to petroleum sludge. Needing to fit in, as stupid youth is wont to do, I too drank coffee and smoked cigarettes. The cigarettes didn’t take, but the coffee did.
 
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Rushie, it wasn’t only “ stupid youth” to blame.

During MIL FE life we might take-off low on fuel but never low on coffee.

Slow cargo plane ( C-54) provided hours of coffee & cigarettes time.

Cigarettes ended with , “ You don’t have to worry, it’s benign”.

Excessive Coffee use with erosive gastritis.

Did I learn from the best? Not!
 
Albany Tom said:
I don't understand why someone would try to learn to like a beverage they didn't like, though.
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Well, when you're a college student it's awfully convenient to learn to like beer. Even afterwards. My mother never liked beer, but she always said that she wished she did.
 
It's something I only do once a year. (No, not that thing.)

I went to go get a white mocha from a place I utterly despise. I won't say which one it was but it is related to constellations and male deer. For starters, the doors were locked and only the drive-through was open.

I F hate drive throughs.

I was almost going to drive off and go somewhere else, but there were only a couple cars in line so I just told myself "I'm just going to f****** do it!"

Then I got to the order kiosk. The large size white mocha with an extra shot was NEARLY SEVEN BUCKS! WTF?????????????

Gouge city man. In years past, when this despicable place used to be closed on Christmas, I would drive across town searching for a Sikh or Muslim owned coffee joint which would likely be open. A Santeria run coffee house would be a huge benefit, because I could kill two birds with one stone.

Get it, two birds with one stone? Santeria?

Sheesh, tough crowd.
 
Rushie said:
Peer pressure in youth. I first drank a lot of coffee when I was in college. My friends would sit at the local greasy spoon all afternoon drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. The coffee was not today’s barista grade, but more akin to petroleum sludge. Needing to fit in, as stupid youth is wont to do, I too drank coffee and smoked cigarettes. The cigarettes didn’t take, but the coffee did.
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Way back when folks would sit and discuss their problems over cigarettes and coffee.

Cigarettes and coffee is the problem now.... :lol::lol:
 
For those who don't know, Irish Coffee is rooted in aviation. The story goes that the Pan Am flying boat arrived in the Irish port of Foynes. Since you couldn't really serve regular drinks early in the morning, they served Irish whisky-laced coffee and the term was born. They quickly realized they had a new invention on their hands and set to market it and the special glasses they were serving it in.
 
IK04 said:
I like my coffee in the approach configuration: Down and Dirty.

I say that around pilots and they rarely understand the reference. Noobs...
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santa brought a Nespresso classic to me this morning. Came with a sample pack, and the first one I tried was some "Masters Original Columbia". It was real smooth...and for the lack of a better way to describe it.."creamy"... really nice. Tried another called "Ispirazione Venezia" and it was bitter and oddly horrible.

Any Nespresso favorites you can suggest?
 
flyingron said:
For those who don't know, Irish Coffee is rooted in aviation. The story goes that the Pan Am flying boat arrived in the Irish port of Foynes. Since you couldn't really serve regular drinks early in the morning, they served Irish whisky-laced coffee and the term was born. They quickly realized they had a new invention on their hands and set to market it and the special glasses they were serving it in.
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Well, right, I mean we can't have drunken pilots falling asleep.
 
I think if I flew across the Atlantic ocean at a hundred and something miles and hour, and then landed on it, I might appreciate a bit of Irish whiskey. Even in the morning.
 
Drum roll please.jpg
Laying in a supply of Javanese and Guatemalan. The drum and rotisserie are ~20 years old and going strong, they've outlasted 1 grill and might outlast this one. The grills have never seen anything but coffee.

The majority here say fresh roasted is better than not, but I think almost everything I've roasted tastes 'grassy' until it's given a day or two to outgas. I've had good success with vacuum packed home roast as old as a month or slightly more. Age definitely affects the amount of crema in my espresso but month-old home stuff still has enough to spare. For my tastes brewing temp (and roast, of course) affects flavor and body more than age, and I don't sweat the age, whether it's my own stuff or the swill bought in the chain grocery down the street. If you really want to focus on age, however, more and more places are putting the roast date on the bags, even on some mass-marketed stuff.

Nauga,
who will tell you what he does but not what you must do
 
flyingron said:
For those who don't know, Irish Coffee is rooted in aviation. The story goes that the Pan Am flying boat arrived in the Irish port of Foynes. Since you couldn't really serve regular drinks early in the morning, they served Irish whisky-laced coffee and the term was born. They quickly realized they had a new invention on their hands and set to market it and the special glasses they were serving it in.
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The tavern where "Irish Coffee" was said to be discovered by the world once stood where the passenger lounge across form the Duty Free is now at the Shannon Airport.

The wonderful story of how aviation and Irish Coffee are related can be found here: https://www.thejournal.ie/irish-coffee-history-3505126-Jul2017/ as well as the recipe for the original, real deal drink!

There was a plaque depicting the location of the "tavern" hanging on a beautiful wooden wall at the the airport and I was able to see it with my own eyes while waiting on my flight home from an Afghanistan deployment.

I heard later that some drunk Marines stole the plaque and it is lost forever (or maybe not, who knows?).
 
The guy who developed the toy "Aerobee" flying ring also came up with a simple espresso maker called the Aeropress that we use when camping at Oshkosh. You put measured coffee in it and 175 degree water. You use a special stirrer (designed to reach the bottom but not scrape the filter paper). You then push a plunger slowly through the thing. Makes 4 shots. To clean, just unscrew the filter holder and use the plunger to eject the grounds.

At home I have a Jura J9 superautomatic. Just press the button.
 
Strong. And don’t put a thing in it! Maybe cream once a year or baileys on a snow day but typically just strong n black.

cheap, mid level, expensive.. hot warm or cold I’m good with it as long as it’s strong as can be.
 
IK04 said:
The tavern where "Irish Coffee" was said to be discovered by the world once stood where the passenger lounge across form the Duty Free is now at the Shannon Airport.
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Been there a couple of times on my way to and from some armpit of the world. Was surprised to find that when we landed at 8 am on our way back to the states from Iraq, they set out a tasting area with Jameson whisky, not unlike the same area at your local Costco for cheese. Since there was no alcohol on the plane from the trip from Iraq/Saudi Arabia, Shannon made a lot of money with people buying their alcohol duty free and drinking Irish coffee.
 
Albany Tom said:
Yep! I agree, I don't. To me it tastes like Irish whiskey that was in a house fire...but some people love it at first sip. That I can understand. I don't understand why someone would try to learn to like a beverage they didn't like, though.
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Not liking Scotch is like not liking cars, or airplanes. Take a sip of a smooth, mild Highland and then just uncork a bottle of Lagavulin or Laphroiag. You’ll be hard pressed to figure out how the two came from the same planet, let alone the same island.
 
Yep, lots of diversity in distilled spirits. If all you've had is Dewers. Red Label, the low end Bushmills, or Jim Beams, it's easy to condemn the whole line. But gosh it doesn't take much of a palate to distinguish some of the better (we're still talking well under $100/fifth) items in the lines.
 
nauga said:
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Laying in a supply of Javanese and Guatemalan. The drum and rotisserie are ~20 years old and going strong, they've outlasted 1 grill and might outlast this one. The grills have never seen anything but coffee.

The majority here say fresh roasted is better than not, but I think almost everything I've roasted tastes 'grassy' until it's given a day or two to outgas. I've had good success with vacuum packed home roast as old as a month or slightly more. Age definitely affects the amount of crema in my espresso but month-old home stuff still has enough to spare. For my tastes brewing temp (and roast, of course) affects flavor and body more than age, and I don't sweat the age, whether it's my own stuff or the swill bought in the chain grocery down the street. If you really want to focus on age, however, more and more places are putting the roast date on the bags, even on some mass-marketed stuff.

Nauga,
who will tell you what he does but not what you must do
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Nice! Agree, when I say fresh roasted is best I do mean after a couple days outgassing, but storing by vacuum pack or freezing is good. Many will tell you never to freeze roasted beans but if you do it right it’s fine. The issue is exposure to oxygen, not time per se. They must be packaged properly. Very cool drum.
 
I'm not that organized. I'll roast up a half a pound when we start to get low. Often that means I don't have a day before it gets ground/brewed but most of the time it does. I take a couple of ounces and put it in a zip lock as the "emergency beans" and dump the rest into the Jura. When the machine goes dry I dump the emergency beans in and then go roast another five pounds.

I'm sad that the Green Coffee Coop has gone under. I still order some direct and I guess there's always sweet marias.
 
So there I was... popped my head in the cockpit, Capt showed up, “hey boss, want some coffee?” “Ya”. “How do you like it?” “Like I like my women...”

geesh, what’s his stupid remark...

stared at his feet, shook his head, and said

“bitter”

BWAHAHAHA, “uh, things not good at home boss”. “Nope”

“ok, one bitter coffee coming up!”
 
nauga said:
We have a different expression for 1/2lb of coffee. We call it "Out of coffee."

Nauga,
like tar on a hot day
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I typically have 20 pounds or so of unroasted beans (they can pretty much be kept indefinitely). I roast a half a pound every three days or so.
 
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