Thanks, MissPrism. Pictures on the labels will be very helpful since I'm hopeless in any foreign language.

Ah... so it's the same way I make my own coffee. (Thanks for enlightening me.)
Which means that my remark about ground coffee from supermarkets applies.

Have a look at an Italian brand called Saeco. Their products may be a bit different from what you have in mind, but I found it to be a most dependable machine, that delivers great home made espresso. Their machines will typically have the grinder built in, which will grind just enough beans to deliver one shot of espresso.

Illy is a popular Italian brand of coffee. I was in Como on Saturday, and they sell it all over.

By the way, when you're in Rome, do try and go to Cafe Sant’ Eustachio. It's just behind the Pantheon. By far, the finest coffee I have ever had.

http://www.santeustachioilcaffe.it/

Hi crckwc, in Italy as freeman said Illy is a very favorite coffee brand. The company was started in Trieste.
Here is a website to give you some information.
http://www.illyusa.com/AB1666000/web...?WebPage_ID=38

Enjoy your time in Europe!

Hi
In Austria and probably Switzerland try Jules Meiner brand. If you have a drip coffe maker like a Mr. Coffee type, get the fine ground. Jacobs is another brand you will find. Stay away from the cheaper brands as they taste awful The coffees come in differents strenghth as they do here in the US. We bring coffee home occasionally and we don't buy the most expensive, the price just below is good. Enjoy it.

>Jules Meiner
Julius Meinl? :-), good choice!

That coffeemaker sounds like a Melitta, or a knockoff of a Melitta. Are the filters cone shaped, or a flat-bottom fluted bowl shape?

The cone-shaped Melitta style are also used in electric coffeemakers from Braun, Krups, and other European makers (Melitta is a German company as well). Any European coffee ground for Melitta or "drip" or "filter" will work (you might investigate the German and Italian for "filter" and "drip").

The flat-bottomed, fluted bowl shape of filter fits Mr. Coffee, Black and Decker, and other, typically American, manufacturers. I haven't seen a non-electric maker, where you pour hot water in the top, with this kind of filter, but they could very well exist. This type of filter works best with a slightly coarser grind -- like a typical American coffee brand like Yuban or Folgers. You will not find coffee ground for this shape of filter in Europe at all, but the slightly finer Melitta grind will work OK.

The kind of grind you want to avoid is "espresso", which is the word that will be on the package. Espresso grind is the almost-powdery stuff you used before that gave bad results.

Colombian (not "Columbian") is a location, not a type of coffee. Colombian coffee can be arabica or robusta, just like coffee from anyplace else. Arabica is much, much better, but there are so many other factors involved that little else can be said without knowing more. "Colombian" coffee comprises some of the best coffee in the world, and some of the worst.

>German and Italian for "filter"
"Filter" is German for "filter"

Hi
I stand corrected, Julius Meinl it is.

Thanks for even more advice!
I stand corrected on the spelling of Colombian coffee. My coffee can just says "100%Colombian coffee" so I guess it could be Arabica or something else or a mixture. So, what I'm hearing is that any European coffee that is ground for Melitta would work? And that Arabica is good? I've made a list of the recommended brands and have been to the Illy website.
Incidentally, a non-electric "filter" coffee maker does indeed exist -- I have two -- but I don't think they are available any more. They were made expressly for travel and are very compact and make only two large cups of coffee at a time. They are electric only in the sense that the water is heated electrically before pouring, by hand, onto the coffee. I use round, flat bottom, fluted filters into which boiling water is poured, making coffee which "drips" into the two coffee cups which are part of the travel pack. Thanks again for all the help.

crckwc wrote: "My coffee can just says "100%Colombian coffee" so I guess it could be Arabica or something else or a mixture."

Probably not 100% arabica, because arabica is generally considered superior and is more expensive, and you can be sure that the use of arabica would be blazoned on the can. Possibly a mixture; possibly 100% robusta.

Illy (brand) coffee is fantastic - it's 100% Arabica and I believe they make a grind suitable for drip coffee makers. (I use their espresso grind)