Spoiled by German Coffee
 

Please, can anyone help me duplicate the coffee from Germany and surrounding courtires. Is it the coffee maker? Is it called a capresso or something like that? I have tried using German coffee and I can't get the same results. Help!

hi there, <BR>well, I think its the quantity and way of doing. And! You have to prepare it fresh. Most Americans do a pot and keep it warm all te day. Let's try it this way. <BR>For every cup of coffee take one teaspoon of powder. And one for the pot, so four cups need five spoons. Use real boiling water and good filter papier and fill in by hand. Enjoy as hot as You can drink it. <BR>In surrounding countries they use other sorts of coffee. France perhaps has another way of roasting the coffee so the smell is in annother way. <BR>The Italians do two very nice coffees. First is Cappuccino, which they prepare with foamt (sorry, didnt find the word in my dictinary) milk. The is Espresso, it is a very strong coffee, You need a special machine and a special coffee powder for it. More about coffee? Just ask <BR>Gar

I suggest you start with whole beans (Starbucks Italian Roast is a good one) and grind it very fine. Never fill pot pr grind beans the night before - do it in the morning. I use 12 generous std. coffee scoops of beans for a 10 cup coffeemaker. Enjoy.

Here are some more suggestions. Coffee derives much of its aroma (and thus flavor) from aromatic oils. These oils will lose their flavor if the beans are kept at room temperature, and especially if they are pre-ground and allowed to sit in the open air. So keep the beans in an air-tight jar (old plastic peanut butter jars work well) in your freezer and grind only what you will use immediately. Use filtered water. Heavily-chlorinated water or water with any off-taste ruins the flavor. If you allow prepared coffee to sit more than 30 minutes, throw it out. Or put it in a Thermos carafe. The whole secret is simple and is incorporated in a single word: fresh. As dedicated coffee-holics, we have chased the Holy Grail of Excellent Coffee all our adult lives. There are many variables, but freshness is something only you can control.

Susie - I agree with you about the coffee in Germany. In one hotel I stay in, it appears that they brew an individual cup in a large machine. Quickly - like the water is forced through. I love my coffee, but I have no knowledge of the brewing process - anybody know what kind of machine this is and if it's something we can buy stateside (maybe in a smaller version) ? <BR> <BR>

My husband has a funky German coffee maker. It's a Krups (with German plugs). You pour the water in the bottom, it heats up, circulates it to the top, then BLASTS it over his filter and ground coffee sitting on top of the pot.

I live in New Orleans and find that the coffee in Europe is very similar to the coffee we drink here. The postings above are how we make coffee, 1 heaping teaspoon per 6oz cup of water, plus a little more coffee to make sure its strong enough. <BR> <BR>One big difference I find in the taste in coffee comes from the type of milk you use. My mom and I use the same brand coffee and make it the same way. But she uses skim milk and I use evaporated milk or whole milk. So if you try the methods posted above and you still aren't satisfied with the taste, try changing the milk. <BR> <BR>Also, I think the coffee taste better when you heat the milk before you put it in your coffee. If I put cold milk in my coffee then heat the whole cup it just isn't as good.

I did all the tricks recommended above and still was not satisfied with the taste of my coffee, esp. compared to how I found it in Austria (to die for at breakfast at the Hotel Wolf in Salzberg, a nice place, but not fancy) and Germany. The answer for me is to go the extra step and make coffee in a (don't quite know the right term here) plunge coffee press. Makes great coffee even out of so-so beans. Of course this is a little more time consuming so I make this type of coffee on the weekends and do the coffee machine type on work mornings. That way I have a special treat for the weekends to look forward to. I even foam milk and have little Italian biscotti for dunking. The French press coffee makers are easy to find and aren't very expensive. Using them gives you almost a TEXTURE to your coffee, which I really enjoy. Try it, you might love it.

Chicory. yum. a la Cafe du Monde.

i thought it was 1+ TABLESPOON per 6 oz water... <BR> <BR>The best thing you can do is grind your own coffee, enough only to last you a few days.

It is one tablespoon. My mistake, I use a special scooper, so I wasn't sure how big the scoop was but looking at a teaspoon I can tell that the teaspoon is too small. <BR> <BR>FYI, the coffee in Vietnamese restaurants is great. Try the iced coffee over condensed milk, its so strong it tastes like chocolate milk. Its my favorite.

Hi I use a Rowental drip coffee maker. We've had it for years It still says made in West Germany. If you live near a Kroger supermarket, check it out at least in Atlanta they carry Julius Meinl coffee. Also if you grind it yoiurself or in the grinder of a supermarket make it fine. That's how it is ground in Europe. A good French roast like Starbucks is good also as well as some of the gourmet shops. Remember also that the darker the bean means the longer it was roasted, the stronger it is. Caveat Unless it has been burned. <BR>alan

Susie, <BR>It's not only the coffee or the amount of coffee, or the exact temperature of the water that makes the German coffee so good. It is their WATER. I have a sister living and Germany and she makes the best coffee there is. She used to bring her brand when she came over to us in Belgium but here the taste is totally different, although we have the same coffee machines. So my conclusion is that it is the water. German water is very soft with only a very small amount of lime (don't know if this is the correct translation for Kalk). In Belgium the water is medium hard to extremely hard. Don't know what it's like in the US.