Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz

By Emi

I love all sorts of European style coffees. I love espressos, cappuccinos, macchiatos, cafe` au laits, French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, it's all good. I like it strong and sweet. American style coffee is good too, but I prefer the flavor of espresso. Espresso is so smooth and almost chocolatey. In Italy I discovered the beautiful and simple, European coffee pot. I always thought that espresso could only be made with $300+ espresso machines with fancy buttons and lots of chrome. That is not true. While that does make a nice cup of espresso with a beautiful light brown "crema" on top, which can only be made with high pressure, a regular espresso pot can make a great cup of espresso for a micro fraction of the cost. Originally I bought a one cup Bialleta at the Italian market in the Chelsea markets for about $18. Once cup means one shot of a espresso. When I went to Italy again in October I went to a little outdoor market and saw a little one cup orange Forever Miss Moka espresso pot. It was so cute I couldn't resist. It was 10 euros well spent. In Italy people drink espresso any time of the day, but cappuccinos only in the mornings. If you order a cappuccino after 10am, they'll know you're a "stranieri" (foreigner). Also be prepared to toss back your espresso in a matter of seconds. Italians drink shots of espresso the way sorority girls do shots of SoCo. Spanish coffee is really good too. I like the cafe con leche in Spain the best. They seems to know the perfect ratio of espresso to milk, and they like it sweeeettt. Their sugar packets are larger then ours and they give you two. They even give you sugar packets with your fresh squeezed orange juice. I don't like it super sweet, so I only take one. There is definitely a difference between the Spanish cafe con leche and the French cafe au lait. The names mean the same thing, but they taste different. It probably has more to do with the difference in actual coffee used rather then the way its made. When I'm in Europe I always end up drinking two or three cups a day instead of my normal one. It's just so good I can't resist! If you like espresso and want to make it on a budget you can pick up a Forever espresso pot here.

If your a American style coffee fan then I suggest taking a look at this article written by Cook's Illustrated from October 2009. Cook's Illustrated recommends a French Press or Manual Drip for the best tasting coffee. My father was a manual drip person forever, but recently started using my portable Bodom French Press that I bought for work. You can brew your own coffee anywhere as long as you have hot water and coffee grinds. It was really cheap too, just $18 and purchasable here.

I've included the "Secrets to a Perfect Cup of Coffee - Best Brewing Practices" by Keith Dresser below:

1. USE FILTERED WATER a cup of coffee is about 98 percent water, so if your tap water tastes bad or strong mineral flavors, your coffee will too. We found that the test kitchen's tap water masked some of the coffee's complexity, compared to coffee made with filtered water. Don't bother buying bottled water - just use a filtration pitcher.

2. HEAT WATER TO THE PROPER TEMPERATURE The most desirable flavor compounds in coffee are released in water between 195 and 205 degrees. A panel of our tasters judged coffee brewed at 200 degrees as having the fullest, roundest flavor. Once water has boiled (212 degrees), let it rest to 10 to 15 seconds to bring it down to this temperature.

3. USE THE RIGHT GRIND, BREW FOR THE RIGHT TIME These two components go hand in hand. Brewing time will dictate how you grind the coffee. In general, the longer the brewing time, the coarser the grounds should be. As a rule, brewing should take 4 to 6 minutes. Don't try to adjust strength by changing the grind; grounds that are too fine for your brewing method will result in over-extraction, while grounds that are too coarse will be under-extracted.

4. ADD THE RIGHT AMOUNT The norm is 2 tablespoons of ground beans for every 6 ounces of water. If you prefer stronger or weaker coffee, adjust the amount of grounds per cup; changing the amount of water can easily lead to over- or under-extraction, because the less water you use, the shorter the brewing time and vice versa.

5. KEEP THE POT CLEAN Since coffee beans contain oils, every time you brew a post, some of is left behind. Over time, that oil will make your coffee taste rancid. Rinse your pot with hot water after each use and scrub all brewing apparatus with hot soapy water at least once a week.

Repeat and enjoy! I hope this helps your caffeine fix.