starting.

Where do you get coffee now? Do you buy any at the store or have a local place to buy made coffee such as Dunkin Donuts or god forbid Starbucks; (Charbucks). I am not sure how to judge your consumption. I started drinking coffee at resturants and my mom's foldgers (its a start). Then when I got my own place I bought a blade grinder; a drip pot (coffee maker) and bought whatever my wife liked (flavored coffee; its ok; but not a true coffee). Now I have a burr grinder; french press, stove top expresso maker (my favorite on the weekend) and a coffee bean roaster (freshly roasted coffee is awesome).

I think a good place to start would be a french press (they can be had for 20 bucks a work good) and some ground coffee from your local supermarket. See if you like it as a daily thing or a weekend thing and go from there. If you find yourself drinking it daily you might want to invest in a drip pot as they are easiler to use and make more coffee than a press and also a burr grinder (no need to waste money on the blade; too inconsistent). Then you can buy whole bean coffee and start getting single source beans (columbian, kenya aa, costa rican la minta, sumatra medhendling....) and then if you want to become a true nut start roasting your own beans.

Good luck on the coffee quest. I am still learning so much.

I started with a $20 blade grinder and a $20 French press. I haven't upgraded either of them.- never really saw a need. I did add a drip machine for when I'm feeling lazy or need to make a large amount of coffee though.

You may not need to buy anything other than some coffee.

If you're feeling really ghetto you can just boil some water in a saucepan, add coffee, stir, cover, let it sit a few minutes, then filter it through a strainer or cheesecloth. Comes out just like French press. Typical steeping time for a standard French press grind is about 4 minutes. I usually do 30s of stirring, let it sit for 3:30, then serve.

If you don't want to buy a grinder right away, just grind the coffee yourself at the grocery store or have them grind it for you at a coffee shop. The pre-ground stuff is almost always ground for a drip machine. A French Press works better with a coarser grind.

I'd start with a coffee shop, preferably an independent one. That way you can ask the Barrista for suggestions. They'll know their coffee a lot better than I do.