From: RobertB 

In article ,
 black.hole.4.spam{at}gmail.com (Don Hills) wrote:

> In article , "Mark"
 wrote:
> >
> >But, overall it sounds like an early morning pain the ass from my
> >perspective and it doesn't stay hot after the pressing either. I'm a
> >hot-water reservoir with warming plate Bunn man myself and don't anticipate
> >moving from that position 
>
> Ewww. First you overheat it, then you keep it hot. After my first couple of
> cups of bitter, stale coffee in the USA I resorted to bringing my own tea.
> The following advice is from an American coffee expert:
>
> Overheating when brewing is bad, it extracts the bitter oils along with the
> desired ones. Drip type makers boil the water in order to push it through
> the spout. Better to use a manual filter or a plunger, where you pour almost
> boiling water (boil, then let stand for 2 or 3 minutes) over the coffee.

That's the same thing Dr. Illy (of Illy coffee fame) said in a NYT article
about a year or  so ago. The biggest problem is that people overheat their
coffee (this includes in professional expresso machines). He recommends a
temperature no higher than 200F -- well under the boiling point. Beyond
that he says you burn the delicate oils and wind up with that bitter, burnt
taste.

>
> Keeping it hot is bad, it goes stale within 10 to 15 minutes. If you want
> to drink it later, you'll keep that fresh brewed taste by letting it go cold
> and then re-heating a cupful at a time in the microwave. You can even store
> it in the fridge for up to 12 hours.

Yup, it's hard to keep it fresh.
>
>
> Incidentally, we do have a few Starbucks outlets in this country. They've
> made little impact on the market, especially here in Wellington. The
> majority of the inhabitants prefer to patronise their favourite baristas.
> Espresso brewing is very popular here, even at home - the popularity means
> machines are cheap and plentiful. As to source, many of our beans come from
> Cuba.

Starbucks is pretty terrible stuff if you ask me. It's always overroasted.
Especially their expresso.

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