ALL I WANT IS A PROPER CUP OF COFFEE

[Jaeger]

Gods, I love the Italians.

...the space-age coffee machine — called, naturally the "ISSpresso" — is a capsule-based brewing system. It's similar in principle to a Keurig machine. But engineers at the Italian aerospace firm Argotec, along with coffee company Lavazza and the Italian space agency, ASI, finessed it to function in a microgravity environment.

Just when did space get so hipster? First they the start growing their own salad and vegetables up there, and now they've got fancy coffee — what's next, a microbrewery on Mars?

But mainly, we wondered — why is it so complicated to make coffee on the ISS? To help answer that question, we called up Vickie Kloeris, the manager of the NASA Space Food Systems Laboratory.

"You can't just send a regular espresso machine to orbit and expect it to work," she says. Here on Earth, coffee machines depend heavily on gravity, she explains. But on the ISS, there's only a minuscule amount of gravity — called microgravity. So everything floats.

The biggest challenge is figuring out how to keep the scalding water inside the espresso machine contained, Kloeris says. Everything has to be sealed, secure and safe.

...

These extra bells and whistles make the ISSpresso weigh over 40 pounds, according to Avino. The plan is to send the machine up to the ISS with Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti next year.

Initially, the machine will come with only 20 single-serve coffee capsules. "Our machine is still an experiment," Avino says. If all goes well, he says, the machine could become a permanent addition to the space station

LINK TO NPR STORY

According to NASA: "Today, it costs $10,000 to put a pound of payload in Earth orbit."

Notice that we (the US) were up there for years. So were the Ruskis, et al... but NOBODY bothered to figure out how to make an even passable cup of coffee in space... until the Italians just couldn't take it any more, I guess.

This demonstrates two things:

1) Why Italy is so beautiful, and how her people generally so full of life, ready to enjoy it! Nobody else had the good goddamn sense to recognize the necessity for a decent fucking cup of coffee? I can think of a few members here who would fucking expire were it not for regular (nay, constant) doses.

2) Why Italy is fucking broke.

--Jaeger

[calamari kid]

Ok, half way there. Call me when they get that brewery up and running.

[2XSL]

wuts wrong w freeze dried coffee?

[DerGolgo]

wuts wrong w freeze dried coffee?

...
you did not just ask that.
YOU DID NOT JUST ASK THAT!
That's a joke. For goodness sake, tell me that's a joke!

It's pointless arguing about taste, but you'd be the first person I ever heard compare that freeze dried mouse-dung to actual coffee and find it an adequate substitute.
Because it is not.
It's margarine vs. butter. It's powdered milk vs. actual milk.
That instant crap is, at best, a one-time emergency substitute. Not even for when you've run out of actual coffee for the day, but when you've run out and can't restock for a few weeks and have already gone coffee-less for a day or so.
You may like it, it may be nice enough for you, that's fine and legitimate. But I cannot for the life of me imagine how someone can taste real coffee, be it a nice espresso or a cappucino or just entirely regular coffee, made with a filter and all. I cannot for the life of me imagine how someone can taste the symphony of flavors and aromas, that anthem to the taste-buds that even a mediocre cup of actual coffee is and not immediately rend their garments and curse the lord for letting them waste their life with that freeze dried dung.

I used to drink that freeze dried muck myself. But I always knew it was crap and I was just getting my caffeine dose there, not the actual pleasures to be had in a cup of actual coffee. Maybe I've become a snob since, but not finding that freeze dried rat's scrotum-hair an affront against all things caffeinated, how one may tolerate it, even in the absence of alternatives, it is literally beyond my realm of experience, beyond my comprehension.

[calamari kid]

wuts wrong w freeze dried coffee?

[Bo_9]

It's conversations like this that make me happy I never started the coffee habit.
Almost off caffeine completely. Now if I have a second soda in a day I'm so wired it isn't fun.

[DerGolgo]

Straight edge mon!
But since I switched from just getting my caffeine-fix to actually enjoying a nice cuppa, I myself have come to understand decaf. Some people may actually not like caffeine. But the aroma of a nice cup of coffee ...

[motorpsycho67]

wuts wrong w freeze dried coffee?

...
you did not just ask that.
YOU DID NOT JUST ASK THAT!

Par for the course....

[wheezy e]

I did a month long diet experiment thing a while back, sort of a "cleanse" so to speak. I felt awesome, slept like a baby but also learned what i already knew, that life without a quality cup of coffee is no life at all. More akin to being undead than actually alive.
I had no idea the extent of the sacrifices our brave astronauts had to endure all these years. And honestly, uncovering the hidden workings of the universe, probing the mysteries of existence, time, life, consciousness.... what for if only to suffer such horror upon waking? I understand that life is about neither comfort nor convenience. If one is to live fully, to really accept the challenge that being human begs of us, one must put to the side all matters of physical desire - the Buddha said we must embrace our suffering, the Christ said to give no thought to what we shall eat or drink. But I say that nobody has ever truly gazed into the abyss, never fully considered the whole wieght of non-being and nothingness from which he came and shall return to realize the incredible joy and lightness of being that has not stared at his own face reflected from the black depths of a cup of french roast, raised it to his lips and felt full power of creation course through his veins.

[DerGolgo]

NotTheFrontPage is NotGettingCrowded.
Because ^^that^^ was too beautiful not to throw up there!

[wheezy e]

nice, thanks!

[motorpsycho67]

Eh.... I prefer tea

[greasy]

Tea for me as well. Coffee is a big expensive production. You need machines and it's messy as hell. Tea is easy, works, and tastes less like dirt.

But i know not many agree with me. I just never developed the jones.

[DerGolgo]

You need machines and it's messy as hell. Tea is easy, works, and tastes less like dirt.

Yes, those machines are messy, and what comes out does taste like dirt.
Of course, some machines are better than others. I've found this sort of coffee machine to work best:



You put the filter and the coffee in, the whole thing goes right on top of the pot. You pour the hot water in (ideally, all in one quick pour). You wait till it's gone through. The mess is the used filter and grounds, which go in the bin anyway.
Tastes better than coffee made with a percolator or a pad machine, IMHO.

[guitargeek]

French press, guys. If your coffee tastes like dirt, you're doing it wrong.

[Zim]

I've been having great results with an Aeropress. Smooth and rich.

[12ci]

i luv my Bialetti

[2XSL]

i still think astonuats should be tough enough for instant coffee

[motorpsycho67]

I've been having great results with an Aeropress. Smooth and rich.

I have one of those..... for the extremely rare ocassion when I want coffee.

[Jaeger]

i still think astonuats should be tough enough for instant coffee

--Jaeger

[SidVicious]

Best cup of coffee I've had in recent memory was at IHOP. omg, it was nearly an epiphany. One sip and heavenly music could be heard as the clouds parted, shooting down a beam of white light upon the mug in front of me.

[Pintgudge]

Sid, I have had coffee at a restaurant that tasted so good I had to ask about it. They said it was Douwe Egbert's brand with its own machine and everything. A squirt of syrup in the cup filled the rest of the way with hot water and it was the best.

The other day I was looking at coffee shop menus and one had "cold brewed coffee" I used my Google fu and it is so easy and so good.

Take a two liter empty soda bottle, rinse, put in four cups room temperature water, and one and three quarter cups of coarsly ground coffee. I used French roast. Put on the cap, shake and let sit for twelve hours. Then I put it in my french press to filter it, and stored it in a glass bottle. They suggest you use a paper filter too but I didn't. Mix 1/3 syrup to 2/3 boiling water and try it out!

This is so good! It has a full, rich flavor. Almost sweet, but not really. Not the slightest hint of bitter or sour.
French roast is an excellent blend, but I think this method would improve any kind.

G. G., I agree about the French press being the best way to have coffee. Until now. Please give it a try.

They did science on it and found a lower acidity than regular coffee brewed with steam or boiling water, and a lower amount of caffeine too. They say to keep the syrup in the fridge for up to three weeks.

I hope someone will try this so you will know that I am not hallucinating,(not that there is anything wrong with that), and just because I want to share the goodness!

[DerGolgo]

^^ ... darn it, now I want to try that!! Thank you!

[Jaeger]

Hrm, yeah, gotta check that out!

--Jaeger

[Toonce(s)]

...
They did science on it and found a lower acidity than regular coffee brewed with steam or boiling water, and a lower amount of caffeine too.
...
I hope someone will try this so you will know that I am not hallucinating,(not that there is anything wrong with that), and just because I want to share the goodness!

Ohhh yeah. This stuff which I have found recently is seriously the shit.



I'm going to have to try the above method to see if I can get close to it. Chameleon has the taste you are describing, and also seriously high caffeine levels.
You said the caffeine was low on the soda bottle method. Is that something you are going for? Is there some remedy for this?

[motorpsycho67]

As I mentioned earlier, I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I've recently discovered Stumptown coffee with milk that comes in a small carton. Pretty damn good...... and all I had to do was plunk down $4 at Whole Foods for it. Yeah, I know.... a bit pricey, but wth...

[Pintgudge]

"Information about caffeine content of cold versus hot brewed coffee is contradictory. Some say cold brewed has less, others say it has the same amount. Since caffeine is soluble in water and its solubility is increased by heat, it may seem that cold brewed would have less caffeine. However, as a cold brew steeps in its room temperature bath for a good 12-24 hours, plenty of caffeine may have a chance to eek out. Toddy, maker of a cold brewing appliance, has conducted a side-by-side study that shows cold brew is 30% lower in caffeine than coffee extracted with heat"

This is from Augusta Free Press, Ann Buzzelli.

Also in her article there was a mention of Arabic vs. Robusto type of coffee beans, with the Robusto variety being much less expensive and having a much higher caffeine content and often being used as a filler in a coffee blend.

I don't need caffeine as a drug. I do like the flavor of coffee. I normally drink between four to eight cups a day at work and have no trouble sleeping as long as I quit by 2:00 p.m. (I wake at 4:00 a.m. and sleep at 8:00 p.m.)
On vacation or weekends, I may not drink it at all, and have no withdrawal effects.

Maybe the Chamelion coffee uses the Robusto beans?

[12ci]

i have a cold brew unit from filtron somewhere in storage, unless the wife finally donated it to charity. we tried it for a while, a maybe 10 years ago, after one of my coffesnob colleagues raved about it. we went back to the Chemex. right now we're quite happy with a melitta mill & brew unit (except i busted the 10cup carafe, and am now forced to use a four cup carafe {which is adequate for the two of us, but it makes entertaining a bit awkward...})

[Jk33]

I'm with you Weezy. Life without coffee is a bit dimmer for me. This is for lots of reasons. I'll say it's a productivity thing. Caffeine calms me down, helps my mind focus for those times when I need long periods of concentration. I'll say I love the ritual of it. The water on the boil. Pouring it over the press. The deep rich smell and the steam from the cup. The weight and heat of the cup in your hands. That first sip. But if I'm being honest, I get headaches if I don't have my first cup by noon. I used to work at a Wilderness Program in North Georgia where the shifts were 8 days of backcountry hiking. If I screwed up and forgot my coffee press, the first three days were miserable, angry, white hot headsplitters, followed by 2-3 days of grumpy and irritable, and a mental jonesing for a cup the rest of the week. When I got out, I eagerly ran back into physical dependency, promising to never to be so foolish as to forget my press again. I've got a 64oz+ a day habit. Coffee is my deep addiction and that's why I love it so much. I had a friend once tell me to never trust a man without a vice.

[Bigshankhank]

1st task of my day, even before I put my lunch in the fridge, is to fire up the coffee pot. Then I get settled in while it brews, and have a cup while reading the news. Winter is the worst, Ill put down at least a pot by myself each day keeping warm, so much so that in the spring I'll typically go cold turkey for a week or two (until those headaches quit) so that I can regain a normal sleep cycle and stop pissing so much. Addiction is a bitch.