I have to chuckle at all those posting about specialty coffee bought from whatever specialty store or online. My wife and I live good, strong coffee, and have been drinking Eight-0-Clock Italian Roast for years. If you want a good, strong, well-blended coffee, there you are. And it’s available in most decent grocery chains.
I switched to Trader Joe”s own coffee from Costco’s Columbian coffee.
Try Dunkin’ Donuts whole bean coffeee. You can buy it online.
https://shop.dunkindonuts.com/shoponline/Category.aspx?CategoryId=COFF
or
Gevalia “Traditional”
Both are medium roast coffees...very good!
Folgers 100% Columbian my favorite. Compare brands but stick with Columbian!!
Cafe DuMonde.
http://www.cafedumonde.com/coffee
Friends told me I HAD to try this stuff when we were down there and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Kivu is not bad. Can be found at Fred Meyers and possibly some other places. Out here in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene corridor, there are several excellent local roasters - Thomas Hammer, Craven’s and Doma. I’d check your nearest burg and see who does roasting. There’s your source.
But.. how do you make your coffee? When I drank drip coffee, I was a dedicated Chemex fan.
Nowadays, I use a Barrista - no longer made, unfortunately - from Starbucks. Delivers a decent shot and is definitely not wasteful of your bean.
I recently bought a 40 oz bag of wonderful whole bean Sumatra coffee at BJ’s. I don’t remember what I paid but it was very very affordable. Normally I buy a can of ground walmart arabica and 1 can of something better like 8 oclock or chock full nuts and mix them. For espresso I buy whole bean but it’s hard to find Sumatra which I love (low acid, wonderful flavor).
You can order beans online. Just do a search for what you want (ie dark roast or organic or flavored, etc.). Here’s one site: http://www.greenmountaincoffee.com/
Believe it or not, Dunkin Donuts isn’t bad. However...
If you want a GREAT cup of coffee check out Terroir. I think it is
www.Terroircoffee.com
The company is owned by George Howell. He started Coffee Connection and now has the most phenomenal coffee beans. They are not cheap but if you are a coffee addict they are the best. I get their fairly ‘low end’ Costa Rican La Minita peabeans.
It is really important to have a burr grinder and really good water with no chlorine. Also important - non-chlorine filters. The brown ones taste like paper bags (do a taste test, you’ll see) but the non-chlorine ones are good. I get them from Green Mountain Coffee. They used to have good coffee but their customer service was poor. Their coffee filters are good though.
If you like coffee but don’t want to spend a lot of money, at the very least get a burr grinder. It makes all the difference in the world.
We used to do mail order Dunkin Donuts, five pounds at a time. Best coffee on the planet, IMHO. We quit that when the shipping cost more than the beans. Now we use Member’s Mark from Sam’s Club. Pretty good stuff, and with a burr grinder we got at Bed Bath & Beyond we can make it the way we like (I like to use a percolator and make it strong, my wife uses a drip type machine and I can see through hers).
Try brewing a pot of Eight O’Clock using a good bottled water and see if the old flavor is still there. Your water quality/taste may have recently changed. Also check for your current package of beans to see if they are old or the package has been compromised and the beans have absorbed an oder or simply gotten stale.
I second the recommendation of Community if it is the Eight O’Clock that has changed, .
Also, have you cleaned your coffee maker lately? That can affect taste.
Hills Brothers
another good choice is MLB
Our choice: Italian Espresso Roast from coffeebeandirect.com It's the best value we've found and it's excellent. Also their best seller.
WE get the best price by purchasing 25 pound bag of roasted beans. At that quantity, they pay for the shipping.
When the bag arrives, we transfer beans into one-gallon zip-lock bags and pop 'em into the freezer, taking them out to replenish the coffee cannister in the kitchen as needed. Each morning, two coffee scoops of beans goes into the grinder, and then into the drip coffee maker. I've also used a french press to good results. Would still use it, but I broke it and haven't replaced it yet.
My Food Lion carries “Discoveries” whole bean coffee. I like the Rainforest.
It’s a little more than 8 O’Clock but less than most ‘specialty’ coffees.
I Used to be very happy with 8 O’Clock too.
Saw some BEAN-BAG CHAIRS at Target a while back. Buy one, cut it open and try the beans. If they’re not too good, go to the back-up plan -——> cut the bag in strips and fry it up for bacon.
House roast Colombian Huila, but it may be an acquired taste. Still one of the consistently fine coffees I enjoy regularly. Then again, I roast my own.