Morning coffee

Most mornings, I make myself a good cup of coffee. The beans of choice this week were frantically picked up on Sunday at Molly Stone's in Pacific Heights. These beans are Newman's Own, medium roast, organic, and fair trade. I've never been one for the dark roasts, even though I like to drink my coffee strong. Those dark roasts seem to make the coffee itself too bitter for me. As other coffee drinkers may agree, strong is not the same as bitter.


On Buying Beans

I had run out of beans late last week and had been putting off buying a new bag, not being able to decide where to go. Since we're still relatively new here, I've been trying to buy different coffee beans every week. I usually try to get fair-trade coffee because it makes me feel a little better about my consumer-centric life, but it usually doesn't hurt too much if I don't. I also try to buy local since the coffee itself will be freshly roasted (usually in house at the coffeeshop) and I like supporting local businesses (down with the Bucks!). I'm not so silly to think that smaller is better, or that fair trade produces better coffee, but it soothes my conscience, so it's worth it.


On Making Coffee

To be sure, I am no connoisseur of coffee, but I do enjoy a nice cuppa. What's a nice cuppa to me? It can't be too bitter, but it has to be strong and easy to drink. Oh, and I drink it black. I always seem to forget that other people drink their coffee with milk and sugar, and we never seem to have milk in the fridge in case people stay over. Too bad for them right? We keep some Korean coffee mix (Maxim) on hand in case people stay over and they require the light brown kinda coffee.

Every morning, I set a pot of water on the stove and measure out the coffee beans into my hand-grinder. That's right: I hand-grind my coffee. Why? To be honest, I just like to do a little manual labour in the mornings. I don't mind it, and I much prefer the subtle crunching in the hand-grinder than the loud buzz of an electric grinder. I don't know that one method is better than another, but my hand-grinder takes just long enough to grind the beans while the water boils. I got my hand-grinder from REI and it's actually meant for camping coffee addicts, but it does a decent job in the comfort of my own home.

Once the water is boiled and the beans are ground, I toss everything into the french press, steep, plunge, and enjoy! It's really a nice easy method of making coffee, with minimal energy used (just the heat for boiling the water), and it makes for a nice morning ritual. God knows I like rituals in my life, and my morning cuppa is just my own little way of starting my day.


An additional note that has nothing to do with coffee

As an aside, I am really enjoying this multi-author blog! It's really fun to see Jeff's entries here. We don't have a lot of traffic, but it's still fun, and I think the traffic will come in due time.