TENN
New member
Hey y'all!
John from Nashville here.
Quick bio:
Occupation: Aircraft Mechanic (A&P)
How I got into coffee: Got a job at a Ford dealership selling cars in 2004 and there was always a pot of coffee on the burner. Didn't care much for it at the time, and drank it with sugar & creamer. A friend of mine always drank his black, and said he started drinking it black after not having access to cream & sugar for a few days, and just learned to like it that way. Also, said if you drink it black, you'll never be left wanting if there's no cream and sugar around. Sounded reasonable to me, so I learned to drink it black and haven't looked back since. I will put a small amount of cream and sugar if I drink iced coffee.
How I found this forum: Well, recently my several-year-old Mr. Coffee died, and I found myself at Wal-Mart, looking at coffeemakers. Saw many conventional home units with buttons in the front, etc, and also saw the Keurigs and their clones. Having sampled Keurig coffee and not being a fan, I didn't even consider those.
One unit that caught my eye was made by BUNN, the ubiquitous manufacturer of commercial coffee machines. The unit was industrial in appearance, which I liked, and had only one lighted switch on the front. It was also expensive, by my standards, at $100. So, I did some research on the BUNN. It was a home version of their commercial units. When I read up on the operation of the unit, I liked the differences between it and regular automatic drip units. I liked the fact that it pre-heated the water to the correct brewing temp, giving you not only consistent, but fast coffee. And it can't "over-brew" the coffee, since the cycle is only 3 min. per pot.
One thing I don't like is the idea of the water being kept hot all the time regardless if you're using the unit or not. So I followed the lead of others and bought a timer at Wal-Mart for $15 that has 7-day settings. I just program it to turn the BUNN on 30 min before I get up.
Ive had problems with past units being inconsistent in water temp, and also with the coffee having what I call a "plasticky" taste. No such problems with the BUNN - it produces a very rich-tasting, non-bitter, HOT cup of coffee every time I use it.
Some guys on other forums talked me into trying some fresh-roasted coffee, so I went to a local coffee shop and bought 1/2 lb of beans that had been roasted only 4 days prior, and wow, what a difference - not only in aroma, but in taste as well. The guy behind the counter didn't know what variety it was, but more important to me was the freshness. I think I'm going to have to start making a trip to the local roaster on a regular basis for some FRESH roasted beans!
I had also heard that good coffee depends on good water, so I also bought a Zero Water filtering dispenser, which is awesome. Never had such good water! It'll prevent scale buildup in my unit, too.
So, anyway, that's how I found y'all - just thru doing a bunch of research on coffee and coffeemakers!
Other interests besides coffee: Motorcycles, cars, trucks, airplanes, boats, trains, etc.
Hobbies: Running, mountain bikes, cycling, working out, riding motorcycles (sportbikes and dirt bikes), working on my truck
Anyway, good to be here. Looking forward to learning a lot about coffee here!
John
John from Nashville here.
Quick bio:
Occupation: Aircraft Mechanic (A&P)
How I got into coffee: Got a job at a Ford dealership selling cars in 2004 and there was always a pot of coffee on the burner. Didn't care much for it at the time, and drank it with sugar & creamer. A friend of mine always drank his black, and said he started drinking it black after not having access to cream & sugar for a few days, and just learned to like it that way. Also, said if you drink it black, you'll never be left wanting if there's no cream and sugar around. Sounded reasonable to me, so I learned to drink it black and haven't looked back since. I will put a small amount of cream and sugar if I drink iced coffee.
How I found this forum: Well, recently my several-year-old Mr. Coffee died, and I found myself at Wal-Mart, looking at coffeemakers. Saw many conventional home units with buttons in the front, etc, and also saw the Keurigs and their clones. Having sampled Keurig coffee and not being a fan, I didn't even consider those.
One unit that caught my eye was made by BUNN, the ubiquitous manufacturer of commercial coffee machines. The unit was industrial in appearance, which I liked, and had only one lighted switch on the front. It was also expensive, by my standards, at $100. So, I did some research on the BUNN. It was a home version of their commercial units. When I read up on the operation of the unit, I liked the differences between it and regular automatic drip units. I liked the fact that it pre-heated the water to the correct brewing temp, giving you not only consistent, but fast coffee. And it can't "over-brew" the coffee, since the cycle is only 3 min. per pot.
One thing I don't like is the idea of the water being kept hot all the time regardless if you're using the unit or not. So I followed the lead of others and bought a timer at Wal-Mart for $15 that has 7-day settings. I just program it to turn the BUNN on 30 min before I get up.
Ive had problems with past units being inconsistent in water temp, and also with the coffee having what I call a "plasticky" taste. No such problems with the BUNN - it produces a very rich-tasting, non-bitter, HOT cup of coffee every time I use it.
Some guys on other forums talked me into trying some fresh-roasted coffee, so I went to a local coffee shop and bought 1/2 lb of beans that had been roasted only 4 days prior, and wow, what a difference - not only in aroma, but in taste as well. The guy behind the counter didn't know what variety it was, but more important to me was the freshness. I think I'm going to have to start making a trip to the local roaster on a regular basis for some FRESH roasted beans!
I had also heard that good coffee depends on good water, so I also bought a Zero Water filtering dispenser, which is awesome. Never had such good water! It'll prevent scale buildup in my unit, too.
So, anyway, that's how I found y'all - just thru doing a bunch of research on coffee and coffeemakers!
Other interests besides coffee: Motorcycles, cars, trucks, airplanes, boats, trains, etc.
Hobbies: Running, mountain bikes, cycling, working out, riding motorcycles (sportbikes and dirt bikes), working on my truck
Anyway, good to be here. Looking forward to learning a lot about coffee here!
John
