Originally Posted by Rodney Crater
I am in the boonies now so I have to buy Starbucks at the small local store and it is preground as drip. Real bummer
When I lived in Monterey I could get a 5 or 10 pound bag of Espresso beans at SmartNFinal dirt cheap made by Nestles. Shipping kills me if I order on line here{ unless you'all know of a good place
} and I don't wander to the big towns often. So I buy a bag of French roast and a bag of Espresso, mix them, and brew them normally because of the grind then mix in the water. ( Sorry I did not clarify the previous reference to just Espresso although I used to drink it that way and brewed in a proper machine when I could get better stuff ).
You don't have to have an espresso machine to get good coffee. The key to good coffee regardless of extraction technique is freshly roasted beans. If you don't have beans that have been roasted within 1 month, quality suffers tremendously. Beans roasted between 1 and 2 weeks are at their optimum. Vacuum packing and freezing doesn't preserve freshness. You'd be suprised at how many sources you can find for fresh roast these days. Some doughnut shops are good places to check. Krispy Kreme actually is a good source for beans. If you can't find a local source, you can actually buy them in bulk and roast them yourself. Unroasted coffee will keep for up to 2 years.
The next step is to have a good grinder. The Solis Maestro classic conical burr grinder is a very good one. You can get one for about $80 or so if you look around.
Extraction is actually the simplest and cheapest part. All you need is an electric kettle and a french press. Grind to a fine setting, use 1 Tbs of coffee per 8 oz of water (or up to 1.5 Tbs if you like it stronger). After the water boils in the kettle, let sit for 30 secs to cool, pour it in, stir and let sit for 4-6 minutes. Press and pour into a vacuum carafe. You'll get coffee better than *$ and way cheaper.