Nice thread.
We alternate between Trader Joe's two Ultra Dark roasts—Dark Sumatra and French Roast—with an occasional change-up to something a little lighter, like their Café Pajaro (still classified as a very dark roast, but to my palate, a bit less "bold" than the Ultra Darks). At under seven bucks a pound, they're by far the best coffee value I've ever turned up. (Actually, Eight O'Clock French Roast is a great value, too, but the TJ's Ultra Darks are so smooth that my palate has been ruined for the much coarser Eight O'Clock.)
We grind what we need and keep the can out of the fridge; I used to use the freezer, but upon reading somewhere (I'll see if I can dig up a source) that airtight, not cold, is the important state for preserving freshness, I stopped doing so years ago and haven't noticed any falloff in quality.
Like Grelber, I'll sometimes mix in some decaf (Trader Joe's French or Italian Roast) to cut the caffeine; on other occasions, I'll make decaf and "spice it up" with a few caffeinated beans. I don't usually drink coffee the moment I'm out of bed in the morning, and although a caffeine-free half year back in the murky past taught me the disingenuousness of claiming "oh, caffeine doesn't have much effect on me," I persist in my belief that the
flavor is as much a trigger of the wakeup effect of coffee as the caffeine. Of course, that may be because I tend to drink small amounts throughout the day rather than big gulps in the morning.
We filter our drinking water, and that's what we use to brew coffee (that's what I use for baking, too, but for reasons of chemistry more than of flavor).
Like Jon, we use a defunct 4-cup drip coffeemaker, in our case, a
Gevalia promotion made by Melitta. Rather than a Mr. Coffee-style basket filter, it employs a Melitta cone filter (unbleached no. 2). It's still going strong about a decade into its lifespan.
I'm not sure I agree with Jon's evaluation of the popularity of dark roasts in the East. Plenty of folks I know like a good dark roast. (Maybe it's a generational thing? I'm sure at least part of the appeal of Starbucks lies in the fact that they've always got a "bold" coffee available.)
None of you guys mentioned how you take your coffee. Black is the only way to drink it, as far as I'm concerned. My wife likes hers with turbinado sugar and milk (or cream, when we happen to have it on hand.)
Coffee and Caffeine's Frequently Asked Questions is an old but good source for a variety of relevant factoids.
