Aaaah, Coffee. My Lifes Blood.
Fist let's talk coffee makers. Obviously there are a number of methods out there.
French Press: Honestly, not the best method. It's good and probably the easiest. Boiling water over the grounds, press the plunger. There are two things I don't like about them. 1. Sediment. You will always get a fair amount in the bottom of your cup. 2. If you are the only one drinking the pot, the remaining coffee tends to steep a bit while still in the pot, making for an inconsistant first, second or third cup.
Auto Drip: Yep the good old MR. Coffee. It is honestly one of the best ways to prepare coffee. The biggest gotcha here is that most auto drip machines have the warmer built in. While this is fine if the pot will be gone in the next 10 or 15 minutes a rule of thumb is, It's never good to heat the finished product. I'm personally a big fan of Drip makers with thermal carafs.
Perculators: Never... The single best way to ruin a perfectly good cup of coffee.
Vacuum Method: Hands down, this is considered to be the best method for brewing coffee.
On Grinding. It's true self grinding will produce the best results, however, I have found that depending on how fast you go through coffee, it's not needed. If you grind your coffee in the store, and use it within a few days, you're probably not going to notice any taste difference.
Also, if you do self grind, make sure to do it correctly. A lot of people using low end grinders just press and hold the button until it's ground. This also tends to heat up the coffee and alters the flavor.
I'm one of those people that feel Starbucks isn't the best coffee either. It's not bad coffee, It just gets more appreciation than it should. Starbucks primarily goes with Dark Roasts, and as a result there a lot of people that think coffee isn't great unless it's a dark roast. That's kind of like saying wine isn't good unless it's a Burgandy or a Port. The Irony is, that "strong" dark roasted coffee actually has less caffeine in it than a lighter roast, as longer roasting times lower the amount of oils in the coffee.
Flavored Coffees: I'm sorry, they are just nasty. I can't understand the obsession a lot of people have with this stuff. If you want to add Hazelnut or other flavors to your coffee, stick to flavored creamers. For me, I can always find an after taste to flavored coffees. Worse still, When flavored coffees are used in many coffee makers, that after taste lingers on for several pots afterwards. If one is going to take the time and money to chose the perfect bean, why mask the sublte flavors of many blends with artificially flavored oils that permeate and linger in your grinder and coffee maker.
Lately, I've been really considering buying a coffee roaster. My Cousin has friends that run a green coffee reseller business and NOTHING tastes better than a cup of coffee brewed from freshly roasted beans. My lazyness has been the only thing stopping me. Home roasters tend to only handle small batches, and It does add a significant amount of time and effort to get that first cup of coffee.
Edit: Oh, I wanted to add. Do not refrigerate or freeze your coffee beans. The best way of storing coffee is simply in an airtight container on the counter, or pantry.
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