In the last two years the new owners of 8 O'clock Coffee have ruined
a coffee I have drunk for decades. It has now reached the point
where when one spends almost $20.00 U.S. for a 2 lbs bag of it you
have no idea what you're getting. I have always used the same amount
of measuring spoonfuls for making my coffee with the paper filters.

First, the coffee varied from can to can in strength. I had to start
using heaped amounts with the measuring spoon in order to get the
coffee up to the "normal" taste I was used to. Other times in the
past year, the coffee tasted "thick" and bitter. What finally go me
was the other day when I opened a brand new 2 lbs bag and made a cup
of coffee that tasted as if the 1/2 & 1/2 I was using was sour.
That is exactly what I thought until I tasted a bit of the cream
from the carton. It was fine. I threw away the first cup and made
another, using a 2nd carton of 1/2 & 1/2. Same story. The coffee
tasted exactly as if the cream had soured. I drank again from the
2nd half & half. It was good. Not the slightest taste of sourness.
At that point I dumped the coffee and cleaned out the electric pot I
boil the water in. I cleaned the cup and the plastic cone which
holds the filter paper. The third cup also tasted sour. I couldn't
believe it. Never have I ever tasted coffee with a sour taste. I
ended up throwing the $20.00 bag in the garbage. I opened a new bag.
The new bag did not have that sour taste. However, the first cup was
too weak using my regular amount of coffee to make it. I increased
the amount from the measuring spoon by heaping it a bit with the
coffee measuring spoon. It still tasted weak. I've had it. But my
problem is, what do I do for coffee now? I'm not paying $40.00 for a
bag of coffee, and the regular brands on the shelf have not been
coffee for years and years. I don't know what the heck they are, but
they ain't coffee.

Any suggestions? I do not want to go cold turkey in giving up
coffee, dang it.