Farewells

Husband's Friend has returned to D.C. after spending just about three months in Trinidad.  In that short time I managed to convince him that Coffee, prepared the right way, is good!  He had more or less given up the beverage a few years ago and was a confirmed 'tea person'.  Spending time at our house, however, he most certainly got back into the coffee habit.  I made sure to send him off with a People's Daily cappuccino and a Moka Java French Press brew.  Don't worry Husband's Friend, there are lots of great independent specialty coffee shops in your area to fill the coffee void.  Keep on drinking!

 

On another note, we're bidding a very very temporary farewell to the burr grinder again this weekend.  While Husband and I celebrated 1 year of marriage last week, my parents celebrated 30 this week!  We're off for a beach weekend with them and will once again be relying on Mr. Coffee's blades.  I really should get a more transportable burr! Ah well, I'm sure the outstanding taste of the Moka Java will stand up to the test.

Home Again

sunday.9.august.2010

Back from vacation and back to my beautiful Gaggia burr grinder. I must not discredit Mr. Coffee, however. Husband and I did enjoy our freshly ground Mexican Chiapas courtesy Mr. Coffee’s blades. There was the expected over-extraction and slight bitterness in each cup, but that was easily masked with the addition of some Half and Half. Of course, these slightly bitter cups were still 100 times better than the Folgers from the hotel restaurant. I need to start some kind of campaign to get our hotels and restaurants to serve premium coffees!

Anyway, here are a couple ‘vacation coffee’ pics. 

Grinder Dilemma

I think I’m starting to become obsessed with my morning coffee… well… a little more obsessed. Husband and I are going away this weekend for our first anniversary. It’s been a happy, fun year… and we’re looking forward to the many more to come.

 Coffee has been part of the fun this year, especially as we tried to fit numerous pieces of coffee machinery and accessories into the kitchen.

Therefore, one of the first thoughts to cross my mind, after confirming all the weekend plans, was “How best to make our morning coffee?”

I know the hotel will have something in the room but at home we have several bags of beautiful, freshly-roasted, divine beans from which to choose. I’m not settling for any old hotel leftovers! The Dean’s Beans and the French Press will most certainly be traveling with us.

 Next issue, we like our beans to be freshly ground and to the most appropriate size. I can’t take the Gaggia with us (only because I refuse to become that obsessive… yet) so we’ll have to settle for the portable Mr. Coffee blade grinder. Mr. Coffee is not very efficient and does not produce a consistent grind size. The tinier bean bits will, therefore, end up being over-extracted and this will lead to some bitterness in taste. See why good, consistent grind size is important?! To compensate for this we will be traveling with our own box of Farmland Half and Half. I really hope there’s a mini-fridge in the room.

Time to pack. Let’s review:

• French Press… check
• Mexican Chiapas… check
• Mr. Coffee grinder… check
• Half and Half… check

Oh yeah, there should still be some room left to fit clothes, shoes and bath suits… somewhere!