Coffee

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

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.

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.

A lot of people seem to be missing your full question.

Biggest ways to improve coffee from mass-brewed, preground coffee is obviously grinding fresh and brewing to order, but that doesnt really apply to you in a scenario where you are at work where you aren't the one supplying the equipment.

To actually improve your experience given your constraints, I would buy whole beans from Costco, grind them on the Costco grinder, and keep them in an airtight canister like the ones they make for flour or dog food that have a rubber gasket.

I would buy something labeled light roast, which is almost certainly actually going to be medium roast.

I would try to measure the amount of water and coffee you use, cause lots of people habitually use way too little coffee, resulting in coffee that tastes pretty gross. Aim for 1 gram of coffee for every 15 grams of water. Obviously, you aren't going to weigh it every time, but you could establish a system of "use 4 level scoops, and fill the water to the x line" once you know what actually produces the right ratio.

Lastly, the warmer-type coffee makers notoriously "cook" the coffee. If possible, I would look into transferring the brewed coffee into an insulated carafe or dispenser as soon as it is brewed. Obviously, that might require you to spend money, but you could get something for $50, and hopefully convince others to pitch in.

Chicory coffee is cheap and good.

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)

Unfortunately the hot plates that keep coffee warm also cooks it, 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. That could mean as little as getting a huge bag of coffee shipped 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.

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.

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

Cheapest I’ve found in the us is the Dunkin medium roast, but as others have said grinding it with a burr grinder (not a blade grinder) is a huge difference. You can buy a bag of beans and have them ground at some supermarkets though. True bulk for a community break room is gonna be hard. Best of luck.

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

Check out Happy Mug. They roast the beans the same day you order it so it’s always fresh. It won’t be as cheap as Costco Folgers but it’s wayyy better. I like the Bear Blend, personally, for a classic cup with broad appeal

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

Aldi's Beaumont Classic Roast is cheaper than CostCo's options. It's not too bad.

I prowl the bargain shelves of all varieties of supermarkets for sale coffee: Sprouts, Grocery Outlet, Safeway, Walgreens, Target, etc.

Whole bean is preferred, but ground will also work.

My expectations are low, and I never feel like I'm getting ripped off.

What kind of machine do you have rn?

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

I buy the Aldi "Donut Shop Blend", It's the lightest on the roast scale of that brand. Dark roast coffee tastes like a dirty ashtray to me.

SF Bay, medium roast. grind daily for a pour over wfm.

*tastes

The biggest improvement would be to get your colleagues to agree to buy a grinder and write out a simple set of directions for the amount of beans to grind for each pot. Since this is just drip machine or a large percolator, the quality of the grinder is not hugely important like it would be for pour over or espresso. A basic Baratza Encore would be more than good enough.

Cafe Bustelo, Eight O'Clock Coffee, plus the Costco and Aldi brands mentioned by others should all be a big step up from pre-ground Folgers.

The key is to grind before each brew instead of using pre-ground.