In my ever-increasing attempts to save money, I recently decided to cut back on my coffee expenditures. While I get most of my coffee from my local corner store, where it only costs $1.20 a cup, even that price starts to add up, particularly when I am hard-pressed to come up with something to write about and the caffeine monster beckons.Choosing coffee isn't such an easy thing. I've tried quite a few brands, generally with mixed success. My wife swears by Illy, an Italian coffee that, I must admit, is damn near perfect. Still, at $12 per can, it's pricey and, given that I am a cream-and-sugar guy, its transcendent wonder is somewhat wasted on me.
I recently retried Café Du Monde, a New Orleans chicory-enhanced coffee that I used to love in college. I don't know if my tastes have changed, or if the coffee has gone downhill, but the last can I bought tasted like incinerated cat turds. Seriously, I don't want to be mean, but it was positively unholy. Bru, on the other hand, is a chicory blend with a solid taste and a good price point; unfortunately, it is sometimes hard to come by. If I'm going to get addicted to a brand, I need a consistent supply!
With that in mind, I recently tried Cafe Bustelo, the unofficial coffee of the Dominican neighborhood in which I live. At $3.39 for 10 ounces, it's got a great price. Another nice touch is the message on the packaging, which appears in both English and Spanish. The English version is short, and contains the standard boilerplate about vacuum packing, perfect flavor, and so forth. The Spanish translation, on the other hand, states that Bustelo is the preferred coffee of the great Hispanic "colony" in the United States. As I like a bit of nationalistic jingoism with my caffeine, the Spanish message was a big selling point.
Bustelo claims to be an espresso blend, but, while the grind is finer than most, I wouldn't characterize it as full espresso. The taste, on the other hand, is very rich. Generally, I double the amount of coffee that the manufacturer suggests, but in the case of Bustelo, I go with a level scoop for every eight ounces. Even so, the coffee has a nice dark color and an intense taste. While it tastes a little too burned for my palate, I feel like it's better to be too burned than to be too weak.
All in all, Bustelo probably won't end up being my coffee of choice, but it will definitely suit me well until the right one comes along. In a pinch, I'd rank it higher than many of the more-expensive coffees I've tried. Best of all, the Spanish propaganda goes nicely with cream and sugar.
2-28-2009 @10:43AM ABgBdWlf said... I usually regard Cafe Du Monde coffee as a tourist gift to go home with. There are superior coffees from Louisiana with chicory that are probably better.
French Market Coffee was recenly purchased by Reilly foods, a company which owns brands like Blue Plate Mayonaise (a New Orleans staple).
Also, there is Community Coffee which is a very coffee brand which produces a variety of local and regular flavors, is available online, and sells a full pound for $5.00. Try their website or amazon. Also I was told by a salesman that they only use Arabica beans for their basic coffees.
CDM (not Cafe Du Monde) is another brand, which is extremely dark roasted and I am not a fan.
We are pretty proud of our coffee here, I am not sure what is up with Cafe Du Monde, but I would think that any of the above brands (besides CDM) you would enjoy and at a much lower price point.
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2-28-2009 @10:46AM mizmorgaana said... you might also want to try medaglio d'oro. i've seen the price fluctuate wildly though. in some stores it's in line with bustelo and some have it almost twice the price.
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2-28-2009 @10:54AM drue said... I would try Community Coffee, a local Louisiana brand, they have their own website http://www.communitycoffee.com/ccc/default.aspx , sell basic coffee by the pound at $5 or so and only use Arabica beans in their basic flavors. They also carry seasonal flavors, such as King Cake, which people rave about. In addition, they have boutique flavors like African and Indonesian at very reasonable prices.
People love it here, it all comes in through the Port of New Orleans, so the stuff from South America is as fresh as you can get it.
Enjoy.
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2-28-2009 @11:03AM justcorbly said... I tried Bustelo while on a similar cost-cutting binge. I found the cost per cup was really no less than with the bag of beans I had been buying.
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2-28-2009 @11:50AM RobynT said... I've been buying Eight O'Clock, Consumer Reports' recommendation if you take cream and sugar.
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2-28-2009 @12:19PM Samme said... That was my coffee of choice during college, but then I was partial to a more 'burnt' flavor in my coffee. I haven't been drinking coffee lately, but that distinctive yellow can brought back memories of some long nights studying.
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2-28-2009 @1:27PM edd said... Eight o'clock coffee is best mass market whole bean I have found. But Chalk full of Nuts is my favorite pre-ground.
but that can be hard to find.
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2-28-2009 @1:41PM Deeoh1 said... For the last year or so I've been getting the Costco stuff they roast right in the store and it's pretty darn good. I get the Columbian Supremo whole bean for $8.99 for 2.5 pounds.
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2-28-2009 @1:58PM billtron said... If you live in New York, you should try Gorilla coffee. $10 a lb.
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2-28-2009 @2:01PM Lorenzo said... For a little while, you could get Bustelo instant in a decorative jar. Up until then, instant coffee was a matter of necessity in the office, since the office brew literally made me ill. That was a fabulous instant, better than most of the fresh brew I could find. Unfortunately, it appears Nestle bought out the instant coffee division, and Nescafe Clasico is not to my taste.
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2-28-2009 @2:24PM marcella said... You can still get the instant bustello:
http://store.cubanfoodguy.com/product_info.php?products_id=193
lots of hits on google. I find it all the time at local italian deli/market in town.
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2-28-2009 @4:48PM KF said... I'm not a regular coffee drinker, so I indulge out and about only intermittently. My mother, on the other hand, needs coffee throughout the day.
She has always said that the best "diner coffee" around is Dunkin Donuts. I've heard this before but, in California where we have no DD near me, I could only shrug and say "If you say so." She's been absent from the East Coast for many years, so I presumed her fond memories of DD coffee was just nostalgia and nothing more. I mean how good can it be -- to have a donut maker with better coffee than a coffee shop?
Recently, DD came out with their bagged coffee in the grocery stores, and at Target. Mom was coming for a visit so I decided to test her. I bought a lb of DD coffee for $8.99 and made a pot, hid the bag, and served it her. She took *one* sip, looked at her cup intently, and then at me (a notoriously poor coffee maker) and sipped again, and said "Now *this* is a good cup of coffee."
I said "It's Dunkin Donuts." She replied "I *TOLD* you that was good coffee."
She lives in Hawaii and can't buy it, so I've been shipping it to her regularly. Considering she can drink Kona Coffee all the live long day, and still prefers Dunkin Donuts Roast, I suppose that's saying something.
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2-28-2009 @7:17PM Brion Emde said... Cafe Bustelo was/is the basis for Cuban coffee when I worked in Miami in the mid-90's. A small, intense shot has what seems to be a couple tablespoons of sugar mixed in.
Surprisingly delicious and probably terrible for the old blood sugar...
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2-28-2009 @8:05PM nora said... I was raised by Latin American parents who used to claim that Americans did not drink coffee, they drank brown water! They started serving me cafe con leche at the age of ten so I have had a very long time to become an expert! A solid, good espresso coffee that I use in my expresso maker, as well as in my drip coffee maker is a brand called Cafe La Llave. It usually is priced at around 4 dollars a can at the grocery store. I think it's really good but then, I am not the biggest fan of the Illy, so who knows. It's worth a try, though.
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3-01-2009 @8:02AM Hugh McMillan said... My favorite coffee with chicory is Tampa’s own Cafe Naviera (since 1921 and now in their 4th generation of family ownership) from Naviera Coffee Mill. Their phone number is (813) 248-2521.
This is the coffee that the Cuban restaurants in Tampa use for their Cafe Con Leche so if you like your coffee with milk and sugar that is the beverage you should try. The prices online are less than $5 for a 14oz brick (vacuum packed bag).
I used to use an Isomac Tea for espresso and now I simply make my Naviera in my Bialetti Mukka Express cappuccino maker. It is pure heaven. Almost as good as made at Teresita Restaurant.
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3-01-2009 @1:59PM Patrick Mould said... Bustelo has been my coffee of choice for sometime and you are correct about its affordability. I especially enjoy the rich and dark roasted flavor of the grind which is a trait of Latin inspired brews.
And you don't diminish the overall flavor when you dilute it with cream and sugar.
Good article...
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3-02-2009 @1:25PM Fash said... I second the vote for Chock Full o' Nuts as the best pre-ground coffee I've tasted. I buy it all the time - and lucky for me, the grocery a block from my house sells it for $2.99 a can.
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3-02-2009 @3:51PM Gary said... I think I would skip this brand based solely on what I now know about their spanish statement on the label.. Colony?!? How about enclave of illegal immigrants?
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3-03-2009 @9:18AM tigerpac said... I think everyone should try Supreme by Bustelo. It's about 5 dollars for 10oz. I feel its even stronger than regular Bustelo, even though its not marketed that way. Eitherway, its less harsh and a fantastic coffee at a good price.
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3-20-2009 @8:07AM Gobo said... Gary, don't bring that crap in here.
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