Java-Fueled Sites for Coffee Aficionados

It’s the first thing you think of in the morning, what gets you through your mid-day slump, and sometimes even the way you unwind after a long day at work. Coffee is a relaxing, delicious pick-me-up for many people, and these great websites understand your love for that daily cup of joe.

Coffee Geek
Full of consumer reviews, how-tos, informative guides and discussions with other enthusiasts, Coffee Geek is your online source for all things coffee. The site tests out everything from elaborate, at home espresso machines to basic, efficient coffee makers and provides helpful tips to its caffeine-fueled members. It also features articles and columns by coffee experts, baristas and farmers on the state of coffee today. If you’re a coffee lover who always wants to have the latest brewing and serving products, Coffee Geek is the site for you.

Coffee Research
Unlike sites that discuss mainly taste and preparation, Coffee Research is dedicated to coffee education and the agriculture, science, and economics behind the coffee industry. Here you’ll find the history of coffee consumption, information about harvesting, grinding, and roasting, and social issues like fair trade and organic beans. By educating its visitors, the Coffee Research team hopes to improve the quality of coffee on the market today.

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Get Your Morning Coffee Delivered With These Monthly Coffee Subscriptions

What could be better than that daily cup of fresh, hot coffee? How about knowing that you’ll have delicious coffee beans delivered straight to your doorstep? With fun and exciting coffee of the month clubs popping up all over the place, you (and your loved ones) will never run out of coffee again.

Craft Coffee
Craft Coffee is an easy-to-navigate website that offers three unique options for monthly coffee subscriptions. The site’s delicious coffees are all premium beans from top artisan roasters, and they are hand picked by a blind taste-test conducted by industry experts. When you subscribe to either the annual, six-month, or month-to-month Craft Coffee delivery, you’ll receive three four-ounce packages of different type of coffees in the mail every single month.

MistoBox
MistoBox is another monthly coffee subscription service that gives customers the opportunity to sample a variety of different coffees every month. The company’s tight-knit team hunts down the most talented roasters in the country and samples their best blends, and then ships four unique roasts straight to your door in fun packages every month.  If you taste a coffee that you particularly love, MistoBox also features an online store that allows you to purchase larger sizes of any coffees featured in the monthly subscriptions.

Three Unique Ways to Make a Great Cup of Coffee

Good coffee's almost everywhere these days, with cafes dotting every corner and even fast food restaurants offering espresso drinks. Of course, many coffee aficonados still prefer to make coffee at home, using gourmet beans to create their perfect cup.

Drip coffeemakers might remain the most popular way to make coffee at home. But for those willing to experiment, there are a few other simple ways to make a great cup of coffee. Here are three you can try at home at Marquis at Barton Trails:

Pour Over
Like drip coffeemakers, pour over brewers run hot water through ground beans. Made by Melitta and other companies, pour over brewers offer a bit more control over the taste: you'll wait to grind the beans immediately before brewing, you'll pour the water over the grounds evenly, and you'll only make as much coffee as you'd like to drink. Click here to read a guide from Stumptown Coffee Roasters on pour over coffee.

Aeropress
The aeropress follows the same principle, combining hot water with coffee grounds. However, the press speeds up the process: the grounds soak for just 20 seconds, and then you'll press out the coffee into a cup. The result is coffee that's smoother and much less acidic. Click here to learn more about the Aeropress.

Cold Brewed
An increasingly popular way to make coffee, cold brewing dispenses with the hot water entirely and instead involves soaking ground coffee beans for up to 12 hours in cold water, then filtering out the grounds. The result is a very strong coffee concentrate. Mix one part concentrate with three parts water (or milk) and you'll have a very smooth cup of coffee that's very flavorful without much bitterness. Toddy, a company that makes a handy brewing container, offers some more detailed instructions on its website.

How Do You Brew? Coffee Comparisons

If you're trying to save a few bucks by avoiding your daily coffee house latte, brewing at home is a great option. But with so many ways to brew, you might not know which is ideal for your taste preferences and lifestyle. Below is a rundown of some of the more popular brewing techniques.

Automatic drip coffee makers are one of the most popular appliances in kitchens today. Their biggest benefit is consistency – their consistent heat and drip settings always brew a quality pot every time. Keep in mind, however, that many have a warming plate under the pot that can make coffee taste bad if left heating for too long.

Today, there's a new trend in brewing — the single-serve “coffee pods”. A few of the more popular brands are K-cups and Nestle’s Dolce Gusto, and the benefit of these machines is that they brew only as much coffee as you want, so it's fresh every single time. But, this is not the "greenest" option, since you throw the single-serve pod out after one use.

The classic French press is a great option for brewing, especially if you don't have a power outlet nearby. This simple process requires roughly ground coffee, which is poured into a glass carafe, and then covered with hot (but not boiling) water. After a few minutes, you hand-press the wire mesh screen down, which separates out the grounds and leaves behind the rich, dark coffee. The French press's one drawback is that is takes a bit of finesse — there's a learning curve to get the ideal brew.

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