St.Ego on Coffee

First of all, lets get one thing straight: if you intend to enjoy your coffee, don't put it through a drip coffee maker. If you bought good beans, it is worth the trouble to brew them properly. If you didn't buy good beans, then you don't care what it tastes like anyway and you can go brew drip coffee till your heart is content.

Me, I like to taste it, not withstanding the addition of cream and sugar. Good coffee just tastes better.

And good coffee brewed correctly tastes great!

What constitutes good coffee and how are you supposed to brew it properly?

The first step to brewing your own coffee is to pick up a nice inexpensive French Press. This is a simple cup or pitcher that contains a filter that is used to press the coffee grinds out of the water that they have been brewing in. Put a few scoops of your favorite ground bean in and then fill it with boiling water. Put the top on but do not sink the plunger yet. Let that delicious bean steep in the water for five or six minutes first, so that you maximize the amount of flavor drawn into the water. When you sink the plunger and press the water out of the spent grounds, do it slowly; it's not a dynamite plunger. If you go too quickly, you may end up with stray coffee grounds. You may now pour a fresh cup of coffee from your French Press.

This is but the first step to finding caffeinated enjoyment. From this point, you can become quite adventurous by picking up a small espresso machine (make sure to get one with a "frothing wand" on it!). This will open the door to creating your very own espresso, cappucino, latte, etc.

I call my personal favorite (and signature drink) the "Resurrection Spell". It requires freshly ground Sumatra (a strong bean with hints of chocolate, the best) in a quadruple shot of espresso that is poured into a very large glass of one part steamed  milk and one part chai with a generous dollop of honey. It was almost dubbed "Insomnia", in hindsight.

Either way, there is a world of caffeine out there waiting for you to taste it. The key is to find out what flavor of bean turns you from a casual drinker into an afficionado. I recommend picking up several different types of bean and then using your French Press to brew different types, one after another, so that you can sample each in context with the rest. In my mind, it is the only way to determine what your flavor is.

When you can choose from Sumatra, Jamaican Blue Mountain, Colombian Supremo, etc., why settle for Folgers or Tasters Choice? In an emergency, of course, it's any port in a storm; but you don't have to suffer without need. Learn to treat yourself right. After all, they haven't outlawed caffeine yet!