inspired by my friend, mat's long overdue love affair with coffee, this morning i decided to actually 'try' to brew a good cup. i love coffee and have loved it for a long time, but i am not really the 'measuring type.' i usually just throw some freshly ground (that's one thing i always do!) coffee into my cheap-o filters that are the wrong size and fill my super cute but probably not that clean pink coffee maker with a random amount of unfiltered water and let my machine do it's thaaang.
it's drinkable, sure. after my first cup of black coffee i'll usually have another with a splash of milk to mask that bitter coffee-sitting-too-long-on-the-hotplate taste. but i deserve better, yes i do!
so today i pulled out my dusty french press (cleaned it out of course) and got to work...
1. filled my brita water filter with tap water, which is actually not bad here in oakland
2. using a teacup for measuring, i filled it with beans (trader joe's wake up blend...it's what i always drink)
3. ground those beans
4. heated the filtered water in my tea kettle until it came to a boil, then let it sit for about 30 seconds
5. heated my french press with a bit of the hot water
6. ended up using only half of the grinds i measured out...filled water about 3 inches from the top of my press
7. stirred the sludge and wrapped my press in a towel to help keep in the heat
8. waited about 4 min....
9. pressed and voila! a pretty darn good cup of joe!
i am very much a beginner in the world of coffee snobbery and maybe this cup was tasty because i subconsciously willed it to be so, but it's amazing how the same beans can taste so different!
anyway, mat's blog is here
happy saturday!
2 comments:
Sweet! I'm like you when I make coffee Kristin, which is why I have John make it most of the time. But, I much prefer a really good, correctly prepared cup 'o joe. I've been using the french press a lot more lately too - it makes bolder coffee and doesn't have the "bitter, sat on the hot plate too long" taste you mentioned and I so dislike ;-) The only issue I have with it is if I don't drink it quickly enough then I have to microwave it and then sometimes it has the "tin-y, cooked in the microwave" flavor that I also don't like, but that is better than aforementioned hot plate. Anyway....happy coffee drinking!!
yay!
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