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| The Traditional Moka Pot |
Coffee. I drink it every day. I've written poems about it. I photograph it. I ritualize it. I cook & bake with it. I’ve blogged about it
before and probably will again, because, well, it’s THE ELIXER OF LIFE. As
the British Museum’s earliest known coffee ad says, “It quickens the sprit and
makes the heart lightsome.” The ad goes on to say that coffee can prevent
consumption, and it can CURE dropsy,
gout, and scurvy. Elixer. Of. Life.
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| Cold-brew French Press |
Cut down? Never. I say, pour ANOTHER cup or three while you read this
about coffee’s health benefits: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/top-13-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coffee#section1
The discovery of coffee is often
attributed to Abyssinian goatherd Kaldi, around 850 AD. Kaldi discovered that
after eating the berries of a particular shrub, his goats got peppy and
frolicked about. He chewed a few himself and felt a sense of euphoria, so he
filled his pockets with berries and took them to a local monastery to share his
happiness. According to Africaresource.com:
Kaldi presented the chief Monk with the berries and
related his account of their miraculous effect. "Devil’s work!"
exclaimed the monk, and hurled the berries in the fire. Within minutes the
monastery filled with the aroma of roasting beans, and the other monks gathered
to investigate. The beans were raked from the fire and crushed to extinguish
the embers. The chief Monk ordered the grains to be placed in the ewer and
covered with hot water to preserve their goodness. That night the monks sat up
drinking the rich fragrant brew, and vowed that they would drink it daily to
keep them awake during their long, nocturnal devotions.
See? Coffee is a spiritual
gift.
My grandma, who lived with us
when I was a kid, drank instant Folger’s or Sanka, and I grew up loving the
smell. She used to call church coffee “caramel-colored water,” so I also learned
stronger is better. Then, my own full-on, coffee-fueled nocturnal devotions developed
during grad school. I spent my days chasing three kids, then pulled all-nighters
writing a Master’s thesis, studying for comps, or writing papers for PhD
classes. Since then, I’ve tried just about every method available for coffee
preparation, and I’ve amassed an impressive collection of coffee accoutrement. Oh, oui oui, mon amie.
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| The Nespresso and Capresso Grinder |
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| Travel Stanley and Drip Cone |
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| Travel French Press and SPARE Chemex |
I have several options for
travel rigs (depending on available space and mode of travel), a BUNN for
holidays/gatherings when I need a constant supply over a long time (if you HAVE to drink auto-drip coffee, BUNN is the best), a Nespresso
one-shot pod brewer for guest treats and my evening “fun cup” of decaf
espresso, and a Keurig in my office at school. I don’t have a real espresso
machine yet, but believe me, it's #1 on my wish list.
As for my daily grind, after
a few decades of dedicated research, I have what I believe is the perfect brewing
method—the yardstick by which I measure every
cup of coffee and find most lacking. It involves four components:
1) the darkest, greasiest,
freshest organic beans I can find. My preference is Café Altura French Roast,
which I buy in 4 lb bags, then break down into 1 lb bags, 3 of which I freeze
immediately. (Yes, snotty connoisseurs, there IS a little condensation loss
from freezing/thawing beans, but I can’t go to the market and buy fresh beans
every dang day. Geeze!);
2) ONE POT’S worth of beans (5 heaping standard coffee scoops of beans),
ground fine in a quality burr grinder (NEVER a blade grinder!);
3) filtered water, heated in
my Zojirushi to 208 degrees. I set the timer the night before, so the water is
ready the minute I get up. (Wow, you coffee snobs are something. Yes, many of
you prefer 195 degrees, but I’ve found that 208 doesn’t burn the coffee, and my
cuppa stays delightfully, drinkably hot longer.); and
4) the most important
component, a CHEMEX 10-cup pour-over coffee pot, with genuine CHEMEX coffee filters,
which are thicker than standard filters and made from lab-grade filter paper.
Perfection.
Mom and I are planning a trip
to Lafayette LA in April, so she can meet great-grandchild #10. There are loads
of arrangements and decisions to make, but of course the biggest is whether to
pack the Aeropress, the stainless or Stanley travel French press, or the drip
cone? Because trust me, NO ONE wants to spend their vacation with an
undercaffeinated me.
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| The Daily Grind with Zojirushi |
MY DAILY GRIND:
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