ohm coffee mane padme ohm...

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.

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.

The Nespresso and Capresso Grinder

Travel Stanley and Drip Cone

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.

The Daily Grind with Zojirushi

MY DAILY GRIND:

The coffee: https://smile.amazon.com/Cafe-Altura-Organic-Coffee-French/dp/B001GMTJ3U/ref=sr_1_4?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1518967887&sr=1-4&keywords=cafe%2Baltura&th=1

The grinder: https://smile.amazon.com/Capresso-560-01-Infinity-Conical-Black/dp/B0000AR7SY/ref=sr_1_7?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1518968029&sr=1-7&keywords=burr+coffee+grinder

The boiler: https://smile.amazon.com/Zojirushi-CD-WCC40-Boiler-Warmer-Silver/dp/B01LWMWU59/ref=sr_1_3?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1518967934&sr=1-3&keywords=zojirushi+boiler

The pot: https://smile.amazon.com/Chemex-10-Cup-Classic-Glass-Coffee/dp/B000NTMHRW/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1518967819&sr=1-3&keywords=chemex