beXnlog

Badness

We all were so hungry around 7PM that we just went to Burger King! Not only did we eat out, but we did it at a fast food joint! I'm disappointed, even though my veggie burger meal sure hit the spot. I'm an all-or-nuthin kind of thinker, so i was quite pro Dunkin Donuts afterwards, but the good boys didn't feel like sweets. Later at home, we had leftover pasta and a ton of fruit to cancel out the burgers and fries.

I've been brewing some crisp batches of coffee recently, so i thought i'd share the ultimate recipe for using a French press. It took me many tries to perfect it; there are so many different directions out there it's easy to make terrible coffee with this method. When i first tried a few years ago, i gave up after too many yucky cups. Last year i gave it another go, and i'm glad i did - coffee brewed this way is the best! The main difference between French Press and an auto-drip machine is that a cup of FP is much richer and heartier. There's a bit of sediment at the bottom of your cup, so don't drink that.

French Press Coffee

1) The correct ratio, which might seem like a lot at first, is 1 T of coffee beans to each 3 oz of water. This means using 2 T for every 6 oz of water. If you need 12 oz to wake up, that means 4 T of coffee!

2) Use a good quality, fair trade coffee. If you don't have a coffee grinder, buy only what you can use in a week or two, since coffee starts losing flavor the second it's ground. Have it ground coarse for a French Press or a Plunger Pot. Also, don't make the same mistake i did and store ground coffee in the fridge - all the humidity will only make your coffee weaker and go bad faster. Store ground coffee in an airtight container on the counter.

3) If you do have a grinder, grind the correct amount of coffee right when you start boiling the corresponding amount of (filtered) water. Grinding is tricky - it must be coarse enough to not clog the metal screen but fine enough to let the good coffee flavors through. Check this picture for reference. I had to make coffee a few times at varying grinds to get the right one, which is a tad finer than the coarsest setting on my burr grinder. If you have a blade grinder, i hear it's 10-15 seconds and you should shake it while you grind, to ensure even pieces.

4) Add the ground coffee to the Press. As soon as the water starts boiling, turn off the heat and wait until the bubbles stop. (If you pour it in off the boil, you'll burn the coffee!) Stir it quickly and put the Press cover on, but don't plunge it yet.

5) Wait exactly 3-4 minutes and then slowly press the plunger. Immediately pour out your coffee and enjoy!

6) If it's too strong for your liking, add some hot water to water it down. Never use a smaller ratio of coffee to water during the brewing, because extra water will take out more of the bitterness in the coffee. This is the main mistake when brewing coffee, thereby making a weaker but more bitter cup.

7) Experiment, since different tastes, brands, beans and grinders mean tweaking the recipe slightly. Overall, i wouldn't brew for more than 5 minutes, though. Also, don't change that ratio!

posted by beXn @ 1:40 AM