Dunkin Donuts coffee--I love it (hazelnut w/C&S), buy the ground coffee beans and try to brew it at home but?

Question

it just never tastes the same. Does anybody know exactly how they are brewing it? It's so much easier to make it home...its out of the way for me to go there.

Answer 1

If you buy it pre-ground, that's why. Coffee beans, after being ground lose their flavor and aroma... At DD, they ground the coffee and brew it right away

Answer 2

First get a Technivorm if you want to use a drip brewer. It is one of the only ones on the market that reach the proper temperature (thanks to the old lady at McD's). The temperature needs to be in the 200 degree range. Next experiment with the beans grind. If it is too coarse it will taste watery, if it is too fine it can be bitter. If you buy the whole bean and like the Hazelnut flavor, just know that every grind after that one will have a hazelnut taste. If you don't want to buy the beans that are already flavored with hazelnut oils, then check your local grocer for the flavored syrups there are several on the market, then add them AFTER you brew your coffee, preferably in the cup.
I can't justify the cost of the Technivorm so I do a simple pour over. I grind the coffee just before the water boils in a tea pot and I pour the water over the grounds that I have placed in a #4 cone filter on top of my glass coffee pot. Tastes Great.

Answer 3

If you want DD Quality coffee at home, go out and buy a BUNN coffee maker that will heat the water to 200 degrees and properly extract the flavor from the DD coffee. Use only filtered or bottled water and make sure your equipment is CLEAN. Only buy the fresh whole bean from DD and use a good quality Burr Grinder to grind only how much coffee you will use right away. Make sure you are using about 3/4 cup of ground coffee per pot. If you go with the typical 1/2 cup recommendation, your coffee will bee too weak. DD uses real sugar and creamer, but the right equipment should be the trick to get you closer to real DD flavor.

Answer 4

When you order a hazelnut coffee at Dunkin' Donuts, you're really getting regular coffee with a hazelnut flavor shot in it. Every store I've been to flavors their coffee this way; they don't have separate pots for each flavor.

Unless you find a way to purchase the flavor concentrate and make it that way at home, it's unlikely that you'll be able to replicate the flavor. The hazelnut beans are going to give you a different finished product no matter how you brew them.

Answer 5

Your coffee maker is brewing it to fast. You need a better machine that will slow brew it at a higher temp. Also don't grind the beans till you're ready to brew. Experiment with the amount of grounds you use as well as the the grind. The finer the grind the stronger the coffee but you may experince some bitterness. DD has been doing this for a while longer than you. Good luck.

Answer 6

good taste demands some pain-no pleasure without pain.