When consumers learn that they can purchase gourmet whole bean coffee for between $10 to $18 per pound, then fresh grind and brew at home for significantly less than gourmet coffee companies charge, many see home brewing premium gourmet coffee as luxurious treat. Purchasing a thermos or a large travel mug to take coffee with them from home makes drinking rich, fresh roasted coffee a possibility for about one-seventh cost of buying that coffee from expensive and crowded coffee shops.

Many so-called premium coffee houses keep their coffee heated on warmers after brewing, but this practice causes flavor to turn bitter after less than an hour of warming. It is actually more likely you will get a rich flavorful cup of coffee from an insulated thermos or insulated type pump containers. Reheating coffee can destroy flavor of good gourmet coffee - just as quickly as extensive warming.

Coffee purists prefer to make individual cups with a coffee press, fresh grinding beans for each cup and drinking entire amount brewed before it turns cold to get maximum enjoyment from their beans. Microwave a good cup of coffee that has gone cold and you'll see how much better it is freshly brewed. Using good clean, fresh water is essential since coffee is 99% water and bad tasting tap water can quickly ruin even best fresh ground beans.

You can enjoy great gourmet coffee more and pay less for privilege by starting with whole beans and grinding them yourself with a $20 coffee grinder. Make only what you can drink or carry with you in a nice thermos or travel mug instead of reheating coffee later. Use good tasting water and keep your brewing equipment clean to prevent rancid bitterness that can come from previous grounds in crevices.

You can brew at home with fine gourmet coffee beans, fresh ground and brewed in a French press coffee maker, carry a fancy thermos of great coffee to work or school and enjoy best coffee available for far less money than you would spend at crowded and expensive premium coffee house.

Prior to popularity of English coffee, beer, or ale, was morning beverage of choice among working class. The pubs and taverns were filled early in morning with workers who stopped in for a few pints of camaraderie before heading off to factories and shops around London.

One English writer wrote in 1624, "They flock to taverns to dizzy their brains and a productionless society is result." Fifty years later another writer credited English coffee with stimulating economy as he wrote, "Coffee drinking hath caused a greater sobriety than has ever been seen in business of London."

By late 18th century buzz of English coffee subsided and tea became preferred British drink, due much in part to outcry of women, who were excluded from all-male society of coffeehouse and complained loudly. A group of angry coffeehouse widows filed a petition with English government to ban coffee on grounds that their men were never at home and their duties as husband and father were being neglected. English coffee was not banned but outcry did have repercussions on coffeehouse business and men returned to taverns instead.

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