Frugal Mania

I *heart* coffee. I started drinking it last year after loving the smell, hating the taste for years. I needed the caffeine and when I discovered that sugar and milk helped it go down better, I fell in love. I still couldn’t see how anyone could drink black coffee, though. Then, my mother introduced me to Gevalia coffee which I was able to drink without any milk or sugar. I decided that I had to try some different coffees and see if I could find any that offered a better taste so that I could cut back on my sugar and dairy consumption.

While searching for coffee reviews and recommendations I read about fair trade coffee and why the store brand coffee that I was purchasing was not a great choice. I decided that no matter the cost I needed to be purchasing fair trade coffee. That took away many of the options for coffee in the grocery store.

More research turned up a Chicago based company called Intelligentsia. (I recommend Black Cat and Tres Santos, if you’re interested.) Intelly roasts their coffee daily. Why? Because about 14 days after roasting, coffee starts to lose flavor. Yep, that’s right. Those beans you find at your grocery store aren’t the most flavorful that are to be had, even if they cost you a bundle.

On the same token, ground coffee beans lose flavor very rapidly. Seriously. Like within a half hour of being ground, the flavor starts to go.

So what’s the conscientious coffee lover to do? Well, if you don’t have a lot of time, I suggest buying a fair trade, whole bean coffee from your grocery store. Starbucks, Seattle’s Best or Millstone (eh, but it’s not overly expensive). If you have a bit more money to spend, go with fresh-roasted beans from Intelligentsia.

Now, what if you don’t have a coffee grinder? Most grocery stores do have one you can use. If you would prefer to do it a few cups worth at a time, use a blender or food processor. If you don’t have one of the aforementioned, you can grind them with a hammer. Really, grinding coffee beans is not a huge undertaking.

But what about the flavor lost in the time it takes for roasted coffee beans to reach your store and then your home? Buy green beans! Check out Sweet Maria’s. Unroasted coffee beans can be purchased here for much less than roasted beans. You can find home roasting instructions here.

Buying green coffee beans, roasting and then grinding them yourself is truly a frugal option that sacrifices nothing but a little extra time.

Earthly Eating is one of my favorite blogs.