I know GOG has members from all over the world and I was curious of how coffee is brewed in different parts of the world. Of course I don't mean using an espresso machine.

I know in some parts even the material from which the kettle is made is important. So, how do you make your coffee? What blends/brands do you use?

Come to Vietnam: smooth silky coffee with a soft aroma like none other. :) I tend to skip the condensed milk, though -- too sweet, but in summer it's a nice treat over ice.

Before I moved here, I lived in China and it was all 3-in-1 instant Nescafe coffee sticks and the cheapest coffee maker I could find for purchase was RMB 800.

As far as I know, there's no special way to blend coffee in Spain. Now, preparing it... you have the Carajillo: coffee, cognac (or rum, brandy, orujo... anything with enough alcohol) sugar and a stick of cinnamon. Some grains of coffee and lemon peel are optional. To serve hot.

Tassimo...

Machine on, Glas or Mug placed there, insert a disk with the coffee I like, press a button and enjoy my coffee :)

I don't think coffee has anything to do with the country I currently live in, since Japan is more well-known for its tea than for its coffee! ^_^

But if it's about my personal taste, well, then I must admit I'm in the process of learning how to make a decent (first step towards "good" :D ) coffee.

I buy my coffee from specialized shops. I buy it grounded but i think I'll soon start to buy it in beans, since I sometimes have trouble to keep the opened grounded coffee in good conditions. What's nice about Japan is that when they set up to something, you can be sure that you'll be able to find amazing shops. That's the case about coffee! ^_^

So, I can't say I have particular blends I favor, I tend to drink "pure" (as in "non blended") coffee. I generally try to taste as many different coffees as possible, to keep in mind the ones I prefered and buy them again.
In Japan, when you know good specialized shops, it opens up the door to virtually any coffee from anywhere in the world: Hawai, South America of course, Africa, Yemen, Indonesia and then more "specialized" ones: East Timor, China, etc...

I prepare my coffees at home in single one-person paper drip filter, which i put directly over my cup. For a solid cup of coffee, I generally put 10-11 g of coffee, for around 170-180 ml of water. Might be a little bit too much of water, but so far i like it like that. ^_^
I first put a little bit of water in the center of the drip filter and I wait around 20s for the coffee to absorb it. Then I pour the rest of water, in concentric circles from the center to the external sides.

When I drink coffee in bars, I select bar that can make it with a syphon, the results are generally great!

I think in Finland most coffee is "filtered", ie. you put the coffee on those paper filters and the hot water goes through that.

Some old grannies might still make coffee by putting the coffee straight into the water ("pannukahvi"), it is harder to make as far as I can tell and has bad cholesterol, which the paper-filtered coffee doesn't have, at least as much.

Only some snobs here use espresso machines.

Instant coffee is used only in emergencies.

I don't see much decaf coffee sold here, I don't get the point anyway. I drink coffee mostly for the caffeine, makes me brisk and really gets my bowels moving!

In Finland most coffee sold in stores is only lightly roasted, which I find quite unfortunate as it does not taste so good. Fortunately lately there have been darker roasted coffee become available in common grocery stores, they usually cost more but meh. I have no idea why people here want to drink lighty roasted coffee, it tastes like shit, is more acidic etc.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I drink 1-2 big cups (or mugs) of coffee per day, one in the morning, and on working days another in the afternoon (I don't make afternoon coffee when I'm at home, e.g. weekends). Not that heavy user, but I do get a headache if I skip a day or two. So I am already an addict.

I drink coffee with a bit of milk, but definitely no sugar. Yuck!

I really dislike Coffee

I would much rather have a cup of tea instead...

I use a simple drip machine. It doesn't make great coffee but it's convenient, fast, and unmessy.

I don't understand the espresso machine exclusion. It's just a high pressure brew method.

I have second hand mocca brewer and manual coffee bean grinder.

No Irish Coffee? :)

I dislike all Coffee :p

I drink sencha almost daily :D but most people here drink crappy tea brewed from bags filled with tea dust :P

Coffee is traditionally made here (in the Netherlands) as drip coffee, which can make perfectly fine coffee (if a bit boring), but these days, for some reason, coffee machines using pads (Senseo) or cups with coffee extract (Nespresso) are becoming more and more popular. I don't like the coffee from a Senseo machine at all. Nespresso is drinkable, but it's pretty expensive for 'ok' coffee, and uses a lot of packaging. But eh, it's quick and easy, and people are lazy.

Personally I prefer the French Press. I grind my own beans, and I grind them very coarsely and let them steep relatively long (~6 minutes, depending on the bean). I vary the coffee/water ratio depending on the kind of beans I have (I usually experiment with the first few cups of a new coffee) and the kind of coffee I want.

When I have coffee I don't really like, or want a cup asap, I use the AeroPress. Insanely quick and easy to use and clean, and it manages to make every coffee taste good (though lacking the `roughness' of the French Press, which actually is a plus for many people).

EDIT: while I'm talking about coffee and coffee culture, I don't know if this is usual outside the Netherlands too, but here it's very customary to offer people a cup of coffee when they visit. So much, that visiting someone without a purpose other than socializing is called `op de koffie komen' (basically, come over to drink coffee)..

My favorite coffee grading:

Coffee Normal = Coffee with irish whiskey
Coffee Brutal = Coffee without irish whiskey
Coffee Excellence = whiskey without coffee

ps robusta > arabica

Push button technology. Whatever comes out, I drink.

And before SimonG beats me to it, yeah, that's what she said.

Here: older generation uses the drip filter system. Medium generation uses espresso machines and coffee powder. Hippies use fair traded roasted coffee beans and grind them themselves. Business people use the Nespresso system (according to ads George Clooney brings these machines even to Heaven) and well I actually like the nut-flavoured coffee of Nespresso. I myself use lots of sugar and milk but many fellow germans like it black or with a bit of sugar or some drops of milk. The average consumption is one cup for me after lunch, but many people drink more (2-4 cups per day is probably average).