I went to make some coffee this morning, and as I was searching for the coffee, realized that I used it all yesterday. I like my coffee. If I don’t get it, I can be slightly grumpy in the morning. However, I decided to make it better by reading about coffee. I found this website: coffee, which tells you everything you ever wanted to know about brewing coffee.
I use a french press everyday for making my coffee. I have been completely “into” coffee for a long time. I learned alot about it years ago, and just continued the pursuit of the perfect cup. It’s difficult to describe, but there’s just nothing like a good brew. I have found through my own experiences that it’s difficult to achieve a great consistency using a drip machine. At one point, I spent a very good amount of money on several different types of machines, but I could never get a better cup of joe than using the very simple french press. In case you’re wondering, a french press looks like this:
I think I paid about $25 for mine. Although I am totally into my coffee, the one thing I used to do that I don’t do anymore is grind my own beans. I just got tired of it. And, I’m a pretty early riser, and once we had kids, I just stopped making all that noise in the morning. I also haven’t ever roasted my own beans, which I understand some people do. Maybe some day I’ll try it. Basically, I try to buy the best possible beans I can, and enjoy my coffee. I usually buy my beans at Polly’s 
. They seem to have the best and freshest roasted beans. There’s one here close to my house on 2nd street that I get my beans from. Sometimes, when I’m lazy, I just buy whatever is at the store, but I don’t typically enjoy that coffee as much. I also like Peets 
quite a bit. I’m not a Starbucks fan at all. Their coffee tastes burnt to me. But, they are well liked by many, so that’s cool. To each their own.
For someone who hasn’t had any coffee this morning, I sure have a lot to talk about, eh?
OK, I’m off to the coffee shop. I think there should be something open at 5:30 am.
Cheers,
Jerry
2 Comments
Coffee puts the system under the strain of metabolizing a deadly acid-forming drug, depositing its insoluble cellulose, which cements the wall of the liver, causing this vital organ to swell to twice its proper size. In addition, coffee is heavily sprayed. (Ninety-two pesticides are applied to its leaves.) Diuretic properties of caffeine cause potassium and other minerals to be flushed from the body.
All this fear went away when I quit, and it was a book that inspired me to do it called The Truth About Caffeine by Marina Kushner. There are five things I liked about this book:
1) It details–thoroughly–the ways in which caffeine may damage your health.
2) It reveals the damage that coffee does to the environment. Specifically, coffee was once grown in the shade, so that trees were left in place. Then sun coffee was introduced, allowing greater yields but contributing to the destruction of rain forests. I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere else.
3) It explains how best to go off coffee. This is important. If you try cold turkey, as most people probably do, the withdrawal symptoms will likely drive you right back to coffee.
4) Helped me find a great resource for the latest studies at CaffeineAwareness.org
5) Also, if you drink decaf you won’t want to miss this special free report on the dangers of decaf available at http://www.soyfee.com
I am not a coffee person myself, but manage to brew a pretty good pot of Folgers from time to time (*blush*)…
According to Doctors Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen, coffee is pretty good for you since it contains antioxidants and is easy to balance the negatives by compensating with an extra 20 mg or so of calcium + 10 mg of magnesium per cup a day…
I’m big on organic wherever I can be, so if what Susan says about the pesticides is true, I’d try for organic + Fair Trade coffee. *shrug*
And all that being said, Alton Brown made a really good episode of Good Eats all about coffee, plus another about espresso. (I don’t drink that either, but love Good Eats!)
Just my 2¢…