[zgood4u]

Found Peet's Maj. Dickason's blend to work very well in the french press

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

I believe that was Black Rifle Coffee company. Highly recommend.

Yes it was, and I still order and drink their coffee. It is good coffee compared to just about everything I have had outside of my coworkers fresh home roasted beans.

[KennyFSU]

Another vote for Black Rifle.

[buldogge]

Do you really want (need) a single origin for French Press?

My wife drinks a lot of FP and Moka, while I only pull espresso.

I play with a lot of single origin stuff, mostly from local roasters...she generally uses the blends from the same roasters for FP/Moka.

Out of curiosity...What are you using for a grinder?

Anyway...(2) consistently good and reasonably priced roasters in St. Louis are Kaldi's (700 blend, for you, would be my recommendation), and Blueprint (maybe Penrose).

Other cheaper/bulk mail-order...You might look at Redbird or Nicolleti...buy 5 pounds, divide up and put the rest in the freezer and pull packs, as needed.

Malabar Gold is another mail-order strong/simple coffee...but...it has a mix of Arabica and Indian Robusta.

-Mark in St. Louis

[Red Bread]

Try to find someone nearby. Intelligentsia is hard to beat. For me, Merit, LAMill, Olympia and Equator are the best I've found.

And yes, you will greatly benefit from single origin in a press. I've done press for about 20 years and primarily do pour over now, but still enjoy a press pot.

One note, for press, I really prefer natural process or honey over washed process, the acidity is lower and the fruit flavors should really shine. Just try to get fresh beans and use them as quickly as possible. Most places will roast after your order and send them immediately.

The freezer is awful for beans and please don't buy in quantity. I'd also recommend as light as possible of a roast. You'll get stronger flavors, more caffeine and a much cleaner palate from them.

[Mintsopoulos]

I hear nothing but great things about Black Rifle. Was just thinking about ordering some to try it out myself.

[N54Yankee]

Originally Posted by buldogge

Do you really want (need) a single origin for French Press?

My wife drinks a lot of FP and Moka, while I only pull espresso.

I play with a lot of single origin stuff, mostly from local roasters...she generally uses the blends from the same roasters for FP/Moka.

Out of curiosity...What are you using for a grinder?

Anyway...(2) consistently good and reasonably priced roasters in St. Louis are Kaldi's (700 blend, for you, would be my recommendation), and Blueprint (maybe Penrose).

Other cheaper/bulk mail-order...You might look at Redbird or Nicolleti...buy 5 pounds, divide up and put the rest in the freezer and pull packs, as needed.

Malabar Gold is another mail-order strong/simple coffee...but...it has a mix of Arabica and Indian Robusta.

-Mark in St. Louis

I don’t need single origin but I certainly would prefer it. Nothing fancy on the grinder, I use a Braun KG7070, flat burr grinder. Gets the job done.
Thanks for the selections you offered and thank to all who responded. Appreciate it.

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by Red Bread

Try to find someone nearby. Intelligentsia is hard to beat. For me, Merit, LAMill, Olympia and Equator are the best I've found.

And yes, you will greatly benefit from single origin in a press. I've done press for about 20 years and primarily do pour over now, but still enjoy a press pot.

One note, for press, I really prefer natural process or honey over washed process, the acidity is lower and the fruit flavors should really shine. Just try to get fresh beans and use them as quickly as possible. Most places will roast after your order and send them immediately.

The freezer is awful for beans and please don't buy in quantity. I'd also recommend as light as possible of a roast. You'll get stronger flavors, more caffeine and a much cleaner palate from them.

I got some Intelligentsia as a gift, and it was mediocre at best. Lots of broken beans and "dust". Really dry, had horrible static electricity in the grinder. Surprising pale, even the "Espresso" in the black bag.

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by pennsiveguy

I got some Intelligentsia as a gift, and it was mediocre at best. Lots of broken beans and "dust". Really dry, had horrible static electricity in the grinder. Surprising pale, even the "Espresso" in the black bag.

They're huge (part of JAB) and even sell on Amazon. But if you're buying in store, or ordering directly online, they should be better than that.

Of course their Black Cat espresso is a dark roast, so the beans will be brittle, having been through the second crack, so not entirely unusual for a few broken beans. It is probably a lighter roast than most grocery store espresso/French roasts, but I actually find it too dark for my non pressurized espresso machine.

Their In Season offerings are usually quite good. I use Intelligetsia as a control. They're not the best out there, but they're consistently good.

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by N54Yankee

I don’t need single origin but I certainly would prefer it. Nothing fancy on the grinder, I use a Braun KG7070, flat grinder. Gets the job done.
Thanks for the selections you offered and thank to all who responded. Appreciate it.

That's a fine grinder for press. Just clean off the burrs and sweep out the chute periodically, they do have a few traps that can hold stale grounds. You'd benefit from a better grinder, but it's also hard to find a grinder that does a rough press grind properly. Baratzas are not ideal for press.

[243Racing]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

I believe that was Black Rifle Coffee company. Highly recommend.

Came here to say this, glad it's been covered. I have 3 different Black Rifle Covfefe varieties in the cabinet right now

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by Red Bread

They're huge (part of JAB) and even sell on Amazon. But if you're buying in store, or ordering directly online, they should be better than that.

Of course their Black Cat espresso is a dark roast, so the beans will be brittle, having been through the second crack, so not entirely unusual for a few broken beans. It is probably a lighter roast than most grocery store espresso/French roasts, but I actually find it too dark for my non pressurized espresso machine.

Their In Season offerings are usually quite good. I use Intelligetsia as a control. They're not the best out there, but they're consistently good.

I was shocked at how pale it was. Many, many shades paler than anything else I've ever seen. Maybe there was a quality problem.

My go-to bean is one that a friend of mine roasts at his shop. Give it a go if you like dark roasts. I grind it coarse and run it through my Moccamaster with filtered water. It's truly better than most any coffee I've had elsewhere, and I've drunk coffee all over Europe and the US. Lots of other coffee snobs who have tried it have raved about it too.

[spencers]

Originally Posted by Red Bread

They're huge (part of JAB) and even sell on Amazon. But if you're buying in store, or ordering directly online, they should be better than that.

Of course their Black Cat espresso is a dark roast, so the beans will be brittle, having been through the second crack, so not entirely unusual for a few broken beans. It is probably a lighter roast than most grocery store espresso/French roasts, but I actually find it too dark for my non pressurized espresso machine.

Their In Season offerings are usually quite good. I use Intelligetsia as a control. They're not the best out there, but they're consistently good.

I really enjoy Black Cat. It’s consistent and fairly easy to pull a shot. Good alternative is Onyx Monarch

[Red Bread]

Ha, yeah, that's a level of dark that I just don't go near for any form of coffee.

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by spencers

I really enjoy Black Cat. It’s consistent and fairly easy to pull a shot. Good alternative is Onyx Monarch

Yeah, I like it too, just don't really like blends for espresso or something quite as dark, personally.

[infinitekidM2C]

I also like Peets. I have found that you should try to get it from the store, and get the more current offerings as opposed to whatever's at the grocery store. If no Peets around you then online.

Last purchase was the Ethopian "super natural" which is sundried. Was really good.

[upstatedoc]

epic

[UncleWede]

"The best part of waking up
IS Folgers in your cup"

[buldogge]

If you want to explore SO beans, then you should probably just sign up for one of the subscription services, or a subscription at a roaster that you like/trust. Particularly if you have an aversion to freezer storing beans, in airtight containers (which I will have to disagree with Red Bread on, and which many others do, as well). Just stick with 8-16oz. bags.

Also, if you're gonna spend that kind of $ on beans (which I do, as well)...then...you really need a better grinder. The majority of truly "medium" roasts (and lighter) will benefit greatly from a decent grinder.

I use a Ceado E5P and it is barely "foot in the door"...

Whoever mentioned Onyx Coffee Lab, thats good stuff as well.

I'm also a big fan of Sweet Maria's and Huckleberry in Denver.

If you want to get silly, Sump here in STL has some interesting roasts, but pricey...even wholesale.

-Mark

[saeyedoc]

One of the smartest things I did (in retrospect of course) was to buy a Mazzer Mini when they were only around $300. Still going strong around 20 years later, haven't done anything except clean it occasionally.

[AlpineWhite_SJ]

Drink mostly Verve, Stumptown or occasionally Sightglass. Capresso burr grinder and either French press or Capresso drip machine

[upstatedoc]

do any of you get palpitations from high octane brew?