You know how your hair needs you to switch shampoos periodically because your pH balance has changed and your old shampoo just isn’t doing it for you anymore? Well, the same thing’s happening to me with coffee.
Here’s my current coffee schema. It was all acquired at the Great Glebe Garage Sale, but in different years.
To be honest, I’ve never used either of the bodums/french presses because I haven’t taken the time to figure out how they work and to learn what grind of coffee they take. (In my defence, I’ve only had them for five and seven years.)
The little stovetop espresso machine has served me well over many years. And that Medaglia D’Oro espresso coffee? It’s cheap and strong and I’ve liked it just fine up until now.
But it’s not doing it for me anymore. I need a new brew.
I like my coffee strong but not bitter. I like it flavourful but not flavoured. I generally brew it strong and then temper it to perfection with some cream and sugar. (I know, I know, that’s not very sophisticated. But that’s how I like it.)
Most importantly, it has to be served in the right mug. I come from a family that takes its mugs seriously. Some might say we’re neurotic about our mugs. But I’m sure we can’t be the only family to have seasonal mugs, weekend mugs, and special mugs for when we’re sick. This is currently my favourite mug.
Maybe I’ll go back to my faithful old coffee schema someday, but for now I need a change. This is where you come in: If you love your coffee, I want you to tell me how you make it. What equipment do you have? What method do you use? What coffee do you recommend? Tell me your secret for the perfect cup of coffee. Please.
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Maurice says you have to try coffees a quarter lb at a time and go brown as opposed to black….and definitely buy fair trade..much less bitter, what without the tears and sweat of the oppressed
Bridgehead is a bit expensive; you can get fair trade coffee lots of places now – even Loblaws. I’ll bring you some Just Us! coffee when I come on the 21st.
We use a “thingie” to make coffee.
It’s a scientific term to describe the plastic cone thing that you put on top of your cup with a paper filter in it. I think alot of people use those for camping. I know we used to until our regular coffee maker bit the dust and we dug the “thingie” out of the camping gear. We haven’t looked back since. It actually makes a great cup of coffee. We did acquire a reusable hemp filter but they need a bit of seasoning first before they perform well.
So I recommend a “thingie”, unbleached paper filters (PC Green available at Loblaws is cheap and unbleached), and some brazilian coffee from Bridgehead. You have to ask them to grind it “for cone”, and make a gesture explaining the “thingie”. Voila, delicious coffee.
There are so many different elements that go into making the perfect cup of coffee. I know when I have a good cup, but it seems I can’t duplicate it day after day. I have a Capresso coffee machine, I use a reusable metal cone filter, and I buy a variety of Bridgehead grounds depending on how I feel in any given week. The mug I drink out of is important to me too. I drink out of a handmade mug from a pottery in Newfoundland with a puffin drawn on it.
A coffee brewer here in town told me never to use the paper filters as they absorb the oils and keep that important part of the precious flavour from going into the coffee.
I’ve also read you should start your brew with cold water. I don’t know about that one.
Let us know if you find the perfect recipe! Sounds like I like my coffee exactly how you like yours, minus the cream.
The plastic cone is what I use mostly. It’s the modern hand-me-down from those sturdy old orange Melitta cones and pots. A long time ago there was a Melitta coffee shop in the little concourse leading to the Bloor/Young subway station in Toronto. I expect it was the first time it occured to me that coffee was more than something powdery in a jar or out of a scummy pot in a greasy spoon. It seemed a quiet little hole-in-the-wall mostly, and maybe because you had to wait while they made it fresh every cup, so lingering was expected. Disappeared after a bit, of course. There’s a 32 floor condo growing out of the hole in the ground where those Melittas were served. Much better return on per square foot investment. Oh, and greasy Equator beans from H&S, grind ’em a few cups at a time. Just some 2%, cream’s too rich.
I third the cone “thingie” method. I like it because its nice and hot and easy to clean/use. I’m sure the bodom method would be just as hot, but I can’t seem to wrap my head around cleaning up messy warm wet used coffee grinds from the bottom of a glass jar. At coffee shops they bang the espresso thing on a bar to get out the espresso, but you can’t do that with the bodom, it’ll shatter then I’ll have to clean up broken glass as well as warm wet coffee grinds. Ew. No thanks. I’ll take the #2 filter of grinds out of my cone “thingie” and dump it in the compost and sip my super warm delicious cup of java.
Damn, I wish I liked coffee. It sounds like so much fun. The guy in the cubicle next to mine at work has set up an elaborate coffee schema right in his little cubicle even though we have a kitchenette in the office and coffee shops nearby. Twice a day he grinds fresh coffee beans; sets up his expresso machine; uses water from his Brita water jug; steams some milk he brings in fresh every day. He even has a little stainless steel cup and saucer. I just have a kettle and some tea bags.
I don’t drink coffee. except for when I’m in vietnam – their coffee is pretty yummy but that may be because they drink it with condensed milk
I do like the vietnamese ritual with their little 3 piece drip cups which they use to make their drink at the table
otherwise I’m a hot chocolate gal
We bought a new Cuisinart coffee maker and are really liking the coffee it makes. I usually blend a bunch of different beans when I buy it. If you don’t like flavoured though, you won’t like my coffees…usually 50% breakfast blend and maybe 25% Irish Cream or Vanilla & then 25% different flavor.
Depends a little on where you live. We actually import our coffee from Seattle to north carolina from Vivace Roasters, because we got hooked on it when staying with my daughter there. We have a Rancilio Silvie espresso maker. I used to make fab coffee, though, with a French press, and they are very easy, just read the directions and tips on coffeegeeks.com. You need a coarse grind, which you can do at most grocery stores— or for nirvana, get a burr grinder (the Rancilio Rocky is about $200 and worth every penny, and will last forever.) With coffee, the fresher the better, and grind it at the last possible moment. Then add half-&-half and turbinado sugar and lean back—– I better go get some.
Apparently “Cat Poop Coffee” is the absolute best — at 50$USD per cup it had better be! You can’t get more “organic” than that but I’m not sure if the poop is fairly traded.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak
Zavida has a lovely Hazelnut Vanilla bean that makes a supremely flavourful but not overpowering cup of coffee. My husband and I often add some cardamom pods to the grinder for a little Middle-Eastern exoticism. It’s truly divine, and everyone who has been served our coffee thinks so, too. For brewing, we have a Cuisinart… grinds the beans itself, pot by pot, and has a lovely thermal carafe so your coffee is as hot at 1500 as it was when you made it at 0800.
You might want to browse through Coffee Geek’s web site for inspiration. We have found that at least two factors must be in place for good coffee = quality beans and the proper temperature of water. We bought an expensive Saeco espresso machine that makes the perfect shot of espresso. Then you can add steamed milk if you want a latte, etc. In France, you never get bad coffee because it is all espresso-based – coffee never sits around in a pot – it is made fresh each time.
The coffee makers you described above as “espresso” makers look to me to be Turkish coffee makers or like percolators, where you boil the ground coffee and then let the grounds settle and drink the water on top. Espresso is made by forcing steam through fine ground coffee so, while you get a very flavourful drink, it has less caffeine than coffee where the grounds sit in the water.
I also have a French press and you should use slightly coarser ground beans so they don’t sift as much through the filter. Good luck!
I don’t know much about coffee, as I generally can’t stomach it. I love the smell of it, but drinking it almost always gives me a stomach ache.
I know my brother swears by his French Press, and tells me that you should buy coarser grinds (often the coarsest) so they don’t end up in your final product. I’m sure if he can figure it out, you can too!
Julia those are stove top italian espresso makers – its kind of like a pressure cooker for coffee. Water goes in the bottom, you rest a funnel shaped metal coffee filter in that, (add the ground coffee, tamp it down), screw on the top and put it on the burner. The water boils and the steam is pushed through the funnel and the coffee and then into the top. They cost about 40.00 new and (I’d never buy an expensive espresso maker after learning to use one!)
We pour our coffee from the pot into a thermal carafe and then add an equal amount of freshly boiled water for cafe elonge. The best coffee I’ve ever had.
I love my Vietnamese coffee – bought a set of 4 cup-top pots at the Great Glebe Garage Sale last year. Super rich coffee with sweetened condensed milk! Yum! Only prob is that it takes a long time to brew and if you don’t screw the pot together right, you can get really bitter or really weak coffee. Wish I could perfect the Bodum coffee. Might take your advice and get a “thingie”. Usually I resort to Timothy’s or 2nd Cup.
Now, ask me about tea and I’ll tell you temperature for water (differs for green or black), and what kind of leaf goes best at what time of day/mood/etc. Definitely have my favourite mug for green vs black tea, breakfast vs after supper, study session vs relaxing back and chilling. Even have different tea-pots for different teas.
I make it in an old Pyrex stove top percolator… You have to be patient when you make it – it takes at least 20 minutes… and it is an art to prepare correctly. I can only demonstrate… when I move to my new tree-top house, I will have you over for a demonstration and a tasting…
I also used to make cowboy coffee. Now, that is also very tricky to make… It involves an enamel coffee maker, coffee and water – no filter, no basket… you put coffee and water in the pot and boil it in just the right way… then you wait to let the grinds settle and pour carefully… very tricky to make right, but so good!
I’m glad to see there’s another vietnamese coffee aficionado out there.
vietnam also has weasel poo coffee which is probably similar to the cat poo coffee teiresias mentioned
Thanks everyone!
Malva – I used to use a “thingie” too – it’s great if you’re just making one cup at a time, like I usually am – but I got tired of buying the paper filters and eventually it stopped tasting as good (just like my current schema). But that’s what I used for many years.
KatieC, good point on the bodum clean-up challenges – I haven’t gotten that far of course.
XUP, your cubicle neighbour sounds like someone who takes his coffee pleasure very seriously. I wonder if he’s like that about other things too.
Deb, I should have mentioned that I need a system that makes coffee for one or two people because I almost never more than that.
Susan Jane, yours sounds yummy.
Teiresias, at last, a job for Duncan.
Susan – cardamom pods! Your coffee sounds exotic.
Julia, I completely agree that coffee should always be made fresh, one cup at a time.
Em, I don’t know your brother but I appreciate the vote of confidence.
Mudmama, you and Papa Pan do make some of the best coffee I’ve ever had. Too bad you live a thousand miles away, otherwise I’d pop in for a cup right now.
Nursemyra and Alicia, I’m starting to get intrigued by that Vietnamese system – minus the weasle poo.
Woodsy, I will take you up on that offer. I made a cowboy campfire coffee once while camping – it was very complicated and it involved adding two eggs to the coffee at precisely the right moment. The coffee turned out okay, but omg the clean-up was ghastly. We were camping at the time, so everything had to be cleaned with cold water and camping soap. Yuck.
I can’t help you out with the coffee since I’m on a different continent on the other side of the world. But, I’m so happy to hear about your mild mug fetish. I thought my family and I were the only ones who did that! We’ve got the Black Flash mugs (for when it ahs to be strong), Weekend Lie-in mugs (big and relaxed) and Van Gogh print mugs, for when we need a bit of “culcha”.
It may be odd to have a thing for mugs, but I’m just so glad to hear I’m not alone
Check out the information on coffees at Sweetmarias.com. They sell green coffee, home roasting equipment, roasted coffee, grinders, and on and on. A whole new world of potential obsession.
But, seriously, the information there is really good. I used to think I liked dark roasted coffee, because I thought that made it strong. Then I discovered how much flavor there is in medium roasts.
I’m with you on the perfect cup. I find it depends on the time of day — morning, big cup, hot milk, evening, little cup, no cream.
I have a Nespresso machine. I love it. It makes a great cup of coffee every time. Unfortunately, the coffee is a little on the expensive side, but since I don’t often drink coffee, I’m happy to pay it.
Drink tea. It’s much better for you and is yummy too. Take 2 bags of Earl Grey and insert in 1 litre pot. Add sweetener/sugar. Boil water and pour into pot with tea and sweetener. Wait 5 min. Pour and enjoy. The perfect brew.
I like to experiment and one of the great joys of coffee is that you can still make a great cuppa joe using nothing but an old can and an open flame. The trick is in knowing how to make the grounds settle quickly after the water’s boiled. I use a clean stick or sometimes just simple centrifugal force by spinning the can in a circle over my head.
I made a little video to show you the trick:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOAdPkDhTSo
Cheers!