Coffee Thoughts

I am still "old school" about coffee, to the point that I still use a percolator to make it (refer to my Percolated Coffee entry for more info). But, I came across an Instructable entry for Coffee Cubes that struck my fancy enough to post a follow up to that entry. I mention in the other entry that I let the mug sit for about 15 mins to cool off before I drink it. I worked construction and remodeling for nearly 2 decades, so I got used to room temperature coffee. Now, when I am in a hurry for that first mug in the morning, I started adding ice cubes to the coffee to cool it off.

I don't add any milk, cream, sugar or anything to the mug before I drink it, but the Instructable entry struck me. Instead of watering down my coffee by using just frozen water, I'm going to make the ice cubes from coffee. I don't have an ice maker, I use the old fashioned ice cube trays (the plastic ones like in the pic, not the metal ones but I am considering getting them too from the thrift store). The Instructable entry explains how to use whatever you normally put into your coffee for flavor as well, and it just makes sense to do it. I'm posting the picture from that site as an example. My cubes will look like the 6 cubes on the right of the picture.

Further research indicates that I can make the ice cubes from tea as well, to cool the tea without sacrificing flavor. I'll be using one ice cube tray with coffee and one tray with Earl Grey for the tea. I'm also considering making some ice cubes from some RC cola, but I'm sure the carbonated bubbles will be gone by the time it freezes, but to save the flavor, I'm going to try it. Stay tuned for another entry about that too.

Happy drinking...savor the flavor, not the temp...

Percolated Coffee

I'm a hippie in spirit, learned a LOT from my grandparents, and still make coffee the way they taught me. I use a percolator on the stove, and not a coffee maker like most people today do. Yeah, it takes a little longer to make, but it makes my apartment smell amazingly like grandma's kitchen did in the early hours of the morning, and the coffee tastes better, IMHO.

Percolated Coffee

I use a camping coffee pot, by Coleman. I started using the filters available at the local grocery store, but have discarded them and no longer use them, the ground container works better without a filter. I use cold tap water to fill the pot, and a store brand coffee for the flavor. Yeah, I could buy the fancy grinds of coffee, but I'm more about the taste & caffeine than about the "savoring" of a large mug of coffee. In my experience, I can get a better flavor of the coffee because I percolate it than I ever got by using a drip coffee maker. And it does put a smile on my face when I see the brown liquid in the little glass nipple on the top of the pot.

I don't use an egg white in the water, like my grandmother did. Though, I'm sure that would enhance the flavor even more. My tendency when making coffee in the morning, and cracking an egg, is to fry the egg up as part of breakfast. But, she always added the egg white into the pot while making coffee. I do still add a quarter cup of ice cold water to the pot when I take it off the burner, to settle the grounds, like she taught me.

Most often, I pour my mug and let it sit for about 15 minutes so it is just the right temperature to drink. I worked construction and got used to drinking room temperature coffee because we would often set our cup down, get to work, and get back to the cup when we could. So "hot" coffee isn't as enjoyable to me. Sometimes I'll just drop a couple of ice cubes into the cup so it reaches my preferred temp quicker.

Since I've been drinking coffee for nearly 30 years, my body "needs" the drug of caffeine. I get headaches if I don't have some each day. I don't drink as much as I used to, but I still need some each day. Doesn't matter if it is morning, afternoon, or evening. In fact, after a good dinner, I'd rather have coffee as a dessert than a piece of cake or pie.

Anyway...go have a cup o' Joe...