The perfect cup of joe

Well, I've been excuriated by my art professors NOT to drink ANYTHING while painting - and all the reasons they gave me were of sound mind and for a healthy body (don't want to accidentally drink the turpentine - if you know what I mean) But it really hasn't stopped me from this dangerous pursuit. Whilst I may not recommend this to other artists, I take great pains to make certain I don't confuse the coffee with the paint cleaner.

All that aside - I think it's imperative to write a treatise on the making of the perfect cup of coffee. To me, a great cup with some really good music go a long way to creating the perfect work of art, or at least go a long way in alieving my frustrations when I'm NOT creating the perfect work of art. So, I really wanted to share the experience with all - simply because it's just too good to keep it a secret.

And it starts with the BEAN (The Arabica Bean - that is)

Many people buy their coffee already ground, and being an admitted coffee snob I just have to sigh. I can understand the convenience of it all but since coffee continually off-gases immediately after it is roasted - the worst thing you can do is to buy it already ground. It takes those little beans a lot longer to go stale when they have their girth about them. So for the sake of it all, I would have to say to go and invest in a coffee grinder. It doesn't have to be fancy - just a simple one should suffice.

So now that you've opened up your - hopefully vacuum packed - coffee beans, and yes, that IS important... go ahead and take a moment in time to make yourself a hypocrite and show your kids how to "huff" something that makes you really high - and I do mean stick your nose in the bag and take a really slow deep inhale...it's just a part of the experience. Well, I guess you can compare it to smelling the cork - which in and of itself is a faux pas, but that's another article. You can then go ahead and take only the amount of coffee you need to make a pot and grind it. Store the rest of your coffee in another tightly sealed container.
I don't recommend storing coffee in the fridge or in the freezer - it can take on all sorts of bizarre scents from the other foods in there - and that's bad.

Measure your coffee at approximately twice the coffee with the amount of water you are going to run through the drip-style maker. For example: When I make a full pot, I put in four scoops of ground coffee and 5 cups of water (for my 10 cup coffee maker-yours may be different). Yes, it makes strong coffee - but we will fix that in a minute...
Doing this only allows for the beans to be activated by the hot water for just the right length of time. Too long in the water and you are literally siphoning all the flavor out of the bean. You'd think that was a good idea, but it's not. It creates a very bitter cup of coffee and pretty much everyone agrees that bitter coffee sucks. So by keeping the brewing time down to its minimal amount, you will bring out all the fresh and rich flavors of the bean and nothing else (and once you've tasted this - you can't ever go backwards, your ignorance has been lifted and you are now in the land of the living...)

So go ahead and let your coffee maker brew the coffee as it should - BUT, just before you put the coffee on to brew - take a tea pot and heat the OTHER half of the pot of water until it's very hot (not boiling-that, too is bad) Once the water is ready, and the coffee is finished brewing, take the pot OFF the heater and fill up the pot with the rest of the water (and try to put the coffee in a carafe to keep it hot, leaving it on the burner - burns the coffee). So what you have managed to do is keep down your brewing time for the beans and yet still blend the right amount of coffee strength.

And it is a simple as that. Not too much brewing time for the bean, the water is the temperature it should be and the beans are freshly ground. - and you have a whole pot of joe. And why is this way important? Well apparently coffee growers and roasters know coffee as a SWEET drink and not a bitter one. We've all been walking on the dark side for many years now and injustices, no matter how insignificant must be corrected. It's just a small victory in my little world.

I recently went to see the Monet exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art. I was unprepared to see these paintings in person - it was a whole new experience that I have never known before now. It's not at all like flipping through a book and seeing the works in print. Very ethereal...and it's been the same with coffee - too many years without "the real thing" I now find it difficult to stop at a coffee shop and find a cup that doesn't follow the standard formulation: coffee, water, on button, wait ten minutes...(ten minutes is six minutes too long-- it should be no more than four!) Hopefully, if you're a coffee drinker, you will try this method, and if you think you don't like coffee because it's bitter - hopefully this method will spur you to try it again.

Happy Coffee Break!
Laura