I think the British have a reputation for drinking hot drinks hot. In Spain recently we ordered white coffees and the waiter, knowing we were British
said - “very hot then”. This brings me on to the subject of how hot should a white coffee be. I know - have it at the temperature you like. But as a discussion point, I have seen the staff in cafes holding the metal milk jug in the palm of their hand, and when it gets too hot to hold that’s the right temperature. I tried this at home, and whilst it is true that I could have a low pain threshold, the resulting coffee was not much more than lukewarm. Those coffee pedants out there, how do you serve yours?
Black hahaha
…and hot ![]()
…and likewise
Whatever temperature it comes out of my L’Or Philips Nespresso machine. ![]()
(Usually warm rather than scalding but that’s fine with me).
I bought an espresso machine but used it only 5 times. Froffy coffee is not my style. ![]()
So immediately bought an ordinary filter machine, works fine. ![]()
“We used to have frothy beer, now we have frothy coffee”
Nor mine - it’s not really an “espresso” machine in that it doesn’t have a milk frother (you can buy one separately if you want).
It basically just forces hot water through ground coffee contained in an aluminium pod.
The style of coffee is determined by the type of pod you buy for it, basically.
Advantages are speed and convenience, and no mess. Purists will say it’s not “real coffee” if you don’t grind the beans yourself etc. but I used to drink instant coffee, so baby steps ![]()
L’Or supply bags into which you put the used pods and then once every couple of months I drop them off at Morrisons in Woking for recycling.
This particular machine takes L’Or’s XXL (double size) pods which I like because I like a full mug of coffee with (flat) milk, not a dinky espresso cup.
I generally buy the pods mail-order from L’Or as they have discounts for bulk buying, but you can get Nespresso pods in supermarkets too.
The Nespresso pod design is now out of copyright so lots of other brands make compatible pods, including the supermarkets.
Nestlé have brought out a new type of pod (Dolce Gusto) which is a different shape so can’t be pirated by its competitors for a few years. There are other types too such as Tassimo.
Nespresso style pods are the most widely available because it was the original design.
Again I would emphasise that Nespresso is not for coffee purists but for me it’s a handy way of getting proper-tasting coffee in a quick and convenient form.
I have a tiny Tassimo which is Bosch/Jacobs-Dowe Egbert owned and have had it for around 5 years now and its great for just me or anyone who wants a quick coffee/hot chocolate/tisane/capucinno, depending on what discs you buy. For a treat I bought a hob heated italian coffee jug that forces the water from the bottom up through ground coffee into a jug section, very good it is too especially with a locally roasted and ground coffee from a local supplier here but only once per week due to the coffee cost.
Yes nothing wrong with Tassimo or Dolce Gusto per se, it’s just that Nespresso pods being out of copyright there are many more suppliers that make them so more choice.
As for posh coffee machines, jugs and percolators etc I am basically lazy, when I want coffee I want it now! ![]()
My preference is for coffee is to make it with a Bialetti ‘mokka’ thing and so the coffee is hot when it is poured.
On a cold day, I like to pre-heat the cup with hot water, but I do use a ‘splash’’ of cold full cream milk to tame the bitterness.
Tea on the otherhand, I am always amused by by wife drinkin cheap balc tea without milk. This, is quite common in say NL and when I ask for a tea, it is sad to see that: a) the water was not hot (near boiling) when added to (in this case a tea bag) and b) milk was added to the mug with the tea bag still in the mug. The result, slighly not hot enough but really weak builders’ tea which was not the objective.
In India and Pakistan, the maids used to boil millions of tea bags in milk, and then add kilos of sugar. The result…propers builders’ and nice and hot!
Bialetti - thats the jug percolator thing I used for special treats. You do know you are not supposed to wash it, just rinse out and air dry.
…. occasionally, I put it in the dishwasher. Mine is a stainless steel one and it sometimes needs a bit of de-lousing ![]()
Coffee temperature is a part of the process: 2 heaped scoops of ground coffee into a cafetiere and add around 2.5 cups work of freshly boiled water. Wait 10-15min to brew, then pour into mugs with sugar already in, add milk and wait while breakfast is eaten, then drink while it’s hot but not scalding.
The right temperature is between being uncomfortable and cold.
I can drink black coffee hot, warm or cool but with any Café au lait I have to drink it hot but not scalding. I don’t like it when it’s cooling down.
And come the revolution, I will treat myself to one of these Gaggia type machines - one that froths the milk as well, just in case I fancy a cappuccino. ![]()
I actually dislike frothed milk because it changes the flavour and alters the sweetness balance. With frothed milk, it’s really difficult to get a coffee that isn’t both bitter and a little cloying at the same time for my tastes. I’d rather have instant than coffee from a fancy coffee machine, and this is what I do at work instead of using the bean to cup device.
Black, hot and sweet in the home but sans sucre when I’m out. I’ve recently witnessed a French man, who was fitting a radiator for me, gulp it down as soon as I’d poured it from the cafetiere. It was extremely hot. Another lad asked for eight spoonfuls of sugar (so really just coffee flavoured syrup).
My favourites! Though at home I don’t boil up the tea with condensed milk etc the way I used to have it at work in Pakistan and India, I just drink it with a bit of milk (or without if out of milk).
Y’all will be appalled, but I’m an American who doesn’t really like coffee - I like caffeine, though. We have a Tassimo machine (landlord provided) and I use a large-ish mug, add some maple syrup to soften the bitterness (fewer calories than sugar), and fill the rest of the mug up with milk. So then I have to nuke it to bring the temperature back up to “hot”.
That’s how we were trained when I was a barmaid in Switzerland and serving more coffees than alcohol during the dsy.
You ‘just’ touch the centre bottom of the milk jig with your finger after you’ve been frothing it on the wand on the Gaggia or similar. When it just becomes too hot to keep the tip of your finger there, that’s the right temperature. At least for s cappuccino.
Lidl’s electric automatic mousseur jugs are around 15 euros (if they’re not, just keep checking back snd they will be), do a d*mn good job, and they absoluteky without quibble honour the 3 year guarantee. You do indeed get a proper cappuccino or macchiato at home. If stressed or if I’m in too much of a hurry to grind my beans by hand I cheat and use a good instant coffee made to double strength under the foam
My guilty secret is Monin Hazelnut Syrup drizzled round the milk foam (or their Grilled Hazelnut Syrup which is even better if you can find it). Which makes a mockery of the fact that I’ve chosen such a good coffee to use underneath it :![]()
