[Welly Wu]

Hi. I'm starting to get into another hobby (gulp, the expense!): fine beverages. I'm already a heavy Starbucks drinker, but I think that I should expand my pallete by trying other fine coffee makers such as Dillanos. Same goes for tea as I like Harney Fine Teas (to help me sleep at night; especially the herbal teas), but I don't know enough about fine teas. I'm getting into certain beers such as Samuel Adams and Brooklyn Brewery, but again, I know didly squat. Lastly, I want to get into affordable but quality wines, but I know didly squat.

I guess what I'm asking for are recommended magazines and websites of all of the above. A super fine beverage list, if you will. I'm looking for magazine websites or recommendations on getting the information especially if they have monthly or annual fine coffee, tea, beer, and wine lists by style or prices.

I want this thread to get really long and detailed too. That's why I'm aiming at the general population here at 'Fi for the information. Thanks.

 

[DanT]

For coffee as I said in your other tread you should try

www.coffeegeek.com forums with knowlegeble people and extensive user revew database nice all around info.

If your interested in home roasting http://www.sweetmarias.com is a nice place to start. They sell coffee bean so they have nice review/info about each of their beans

If you want to go fancy and used a method that "the mass" don't usualy know about I suggest you try VacPot. That what I use make excellent coffee. Ask about it in the coffeegeek forums and when you get one check this site for the proper way to vacpot

To add to the guide I usualy low my temperature to min when most the water is up. When all the water is up I wait around 1 min then remove from heat than wait for the coffee to come back down. I also have an automatic boilier as a source of near boiling water I find it faster to pre-boiled the water than start with cold water in the vacpot and wait till it near boiling.

An other nice thing to try if you have an decent expresso machine is Latte Art http://coffeegeek.com/guides/frothingguide

 

[uzziah]

price/quality

easy:

winebuys.com

http://www.coffeebeandirect.com/

 

[bhd812]

as for coffee I think their was a magazine awhile back, forgot the name..sorry

if your looking into getting into finer coffee then the common starbucks then look for roasters in your area, try to roast yourself..I believe thier is a thread on that here.

sorry cant help with the others cause I cant drink the others...for my safety of course

 

[jpr703]

Check out www.wine.com

They have a section that lists wines with an independent rating of 90+ (on a 100 point scale) that are all under $20. I've tried several and had pretty good luck.

Plus there is just something inherently cool about having booze delivered to your front door!

 

[jpr703]

One more thought, this time on beer. There are so many different styles of beer that it's hard to take advice on the subject. You basicly need to figure out what kinds you like (Lager, Stout, Bock, Porter, etc.) and then try some different beers in that category. There aren't many breweries that make excellent beers in several different categories since they tend to specialize. However, if you can find Samuel Smith's (not Adams) in your area, they do make several excellent varieties of beer that are widely acclaimed as being some of the best in their genre. If you know what specific styles you like, let me know and I can make a suggetion or two.

 

[Dimitri]

I was spoiled with perfect espresso everyday when I lived in Rome, and can confidently recommend Illy (www.illyusa.com) as having the finest beans.

www.wholelattelove.com is an outstanding resource for general info on authentic espresso drink creation. Unfortunately, I have never had a perfect espresso in the U.S. Some cafes here in New York have come close, but either bean quality or brewing technique is always lacking.

btw, Starbucks consistently brews the WORST espresso, and charges the most for it, which is why they bury it in mounds of steamed milk, caramel and other things, which, I have to admit, can form a passable "espresso-based" drink.

 

[daycart1]

How about -Malt Advocate-?

 

[remilard]

I think the best thing with beer is to just drink a lot to see what you like. I tend to drink a lot of Rogue and Chimay.

For tea and wine, the absolute best thing to do is find a local trustworthy retailer. I actually by most of my wine at Whole Foods Market, they have tons of stuff under $20 and unlike some places *cough* trader joes *cough* they don't carry anything crappy. My local store has three wine buyers so you can go in any day and talk to one of them. You can tell them what you like, what your price range is and they can make suggestions.

With tea and coffee the trick is to find a place with good turnover. Ideally, all the coffee I drink is brewed within two weeks of being roasted. I don't buy coffee at any place where it isn't marked with the roast date. For tea, I go to The tao of tea. If you really want to buy online, I fully recommend them, they have lots of good information on brewing tea which, after following their method, I think most people do wrong. Preferably though, you would find a good place locally where you can see and smell the tea before you buy it.

So in a nutshell, I'm saying screw magazines and websites, these are things you have to go out and talk about, taste, smell, see.

 

[SportaJoe]

http://beeradvocate.com/top_beers.php

The best beer site ive found. I have tried about 15 of there top 100 and about 50 different beers in the last few months. The porters and belgians are my current favorites.

 

[warubozu]

Whiskey magazine website:

http://www.whiskymag.com/

I found that website to be very informative on almost anything you wanted to know about single malts.