this post was submitted on 19 May 2026
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Coffee

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There's like 15 different communities for coffee! Nice!

Like many of us, I survive largely on the break room coffee pot. Our grounds are running low again and the hospital doesn't stock it, so it's on the employees.

Our taste in coffee is driven mostly by cost, so we go through a lot of Costco-sized buckets of Folgers, but Folgers famously tastes like dirt. Still, it's cheap and it's coffee, so that's usually the winner.

I'm not a connoisseur by any means, but... any good options that taste less like dirt while still being cheap / available in large quantities?

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[–] godot@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

Unfortunately the hot plates that keep coffee warm also cook them, so you’re a bit behind the eight ball. If you haven’t, taste the office Folgers fresh vs sitting on the hot plate after two hours. I’d rather have the fresh Folgers over pretty much anything off a hot plate.

To answer your question, the Kirkland stuff is definitely better and not that much costlier than Folgers if you just want a momentary reprieve from the dirt flavor. I will gladly drink that fresh off an okay drip machine, even pre ground.

While the hospital won’t buy the coffee, could you buy through the hospital? Your food operation might have access to something better than Folgers at similar or better prices. I know all that can be wildly complicated, but likely worth a five minute email.

You can contract a commercial entity as an office. I imagine hospital break rooms go through a lot of coffee. An office contract would see to someone delivering coffee (and maybe getting equipment possibly including a coffee urn which would make an enormous difference), taking it off a rotating schedule and making it as simple as everyone dropping a buck in the coffee bucket every two weeks. I don’t know how in you are with whoever would greenlight that, or how much effort you’d like to put in, or how game your coworkers would be to try something new. It can be very reasonably priced when you buy enough coffee.

If those two ideas are too much work, they’re too much work.

You could also do the selfish thing and bring your own beans and an Aeropress. It has the highest ceiling at the cost of being That Person. I also personally really like Cometeer’s pods, which are way more expensive but discrete.

[–] CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago

Your options will depend on location. Where are you based out of, roughly?

[–] crusa187@lemmy.ml 7 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

Hard to beat Costco prices. That said, try Cafe Bustelo, it might fit your needs nicely.

[–] FrChazzz@lemmus.org 2 points 15 hours ago

Every so often Costco will have a single-origin Ethiopian that is really good. Been a couple years since they had it, though

[–] homes@piefed.world 4 points 19 hours ago

Cafe Bustelo

That’s my go to for cheap coffee.

[–] cattywampas@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago

Colectivo from Costco is my go-to, and every now and then I treat myself to a bag of locally roasted beans. Plus local coffee is one souvenir I always get on vacation no matter where I go.

[–] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 4 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

Get beans! Preground is disgusting and also full of ground up roaches (no, really).

The bean version of anything ground fresh will be vastly superior than the preground version. That said, Coffee For Everyone has some decent bulk stuff that isn't crazy expensive.

[–] Grass@sh.itjust.works 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I used to stop by my former neighbour's shop for flour ground right in front of me. Either the grinder discretely dispenses drugs in it or its just way better than whatever you buy in big stores.

[–] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 hour ago

If you have a local roaster, yeah, they'll be better than grocery store beans. Still best if you get the beans and use a quality burr grinder though.

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 5 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

if it's pre-ground you've already given up any hope of meaningful improvement.

coffee beans gotta be used within minutes of being ground.

find a local roaster that has good light or medium roast of any variety, get a good grinder, and grind them fresh right when brewing.

also, side note: the lighter the roast, the more caffeine (by way of darker roasting destroying more caffeine)

[–] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 6 points 21 hours ago

Anything you make in a cheap filter drip coffee machine is going to have an upper bound of how well it can taste. It's a convenient method to brew larger quantities of coffee at once, but not really an ideal way of getting the best tasting coffee.

You might want to try a more medium roast instead of a dark roast and see if that tastes less like dirt to you, but a lot of cheap coffee is going to be dark roast because it hides the taste of the (shitty) beans used.

As someone has said, pre ground is a losing battle and any coffee you buy from a shop where they don't show the roast date (super markets etc) will also restrict you on good taste

However, you might have some luck adding salt to your brew to improve the taste. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PUWQQ-joKE

[–] LemmyBruceLeeMarvin@lemmy.ml 1 points 15 hours ago

You can roast your own using a popcorn popper and the cost is about half what you pay for roasted. By green beans in bulk and they last a long time in a sealed container

[–] swelter_spark@reddthat.com 1 points 20 hours ago

Chicory coffee is cheap and good.

[–] accideath@feddit.org 1 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

What kind of machine do you have rn?

[–] Murse@slrpnk.net 3 points 18 hours ago

No idea what the model is, but it's one of those commercial sized ones with two carafes - one that it drips into, and another warming plate to swap with.

[–] Krudler@lemmy.world 1 points 20 hours ago

I have found that grinding cheap coffee to a finer grind, often creates the taste illusion that it's much higher quality.

[–] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Murse@slrpnk.net 2 points 18 hours ago

I blame my phone. Fixed!