There’s like 15 different communities for coffee! Nice!
Like many of us, I survive largely on the break room coffee pot. Our grounds are running low again and the hospital doesn’t stock it, so it’s on the employees.
Our taste in coffee is driven mostly by cost, so we go through a lot of Costco-sized buckets of Folgers, but Folgers famously tastes like dirt. Still, it’s cheap and it’s coffee, so that’s usually the winner.
I’m not a connoisseur by any means, but… any good options that taste less like dirt while still being cheap / available in large quantities?
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.