Re: [NTLK] [OT] Coffee & the Newt [was "Re: 2010?"]

From: Jon Glass <jonglass_at_usa.net>
Date: Fri Sep 01 2006 - 02:46:33 EDT

On 8/31/06, Lord Groundhog <LordGroundhog@gmail.com> wrote:
> *Of course* you time it, Jon. Assuming you use the correct amount of coffee
> and a good bean well-ground for the press (or "cafetiere" as they call it
> here in the UK), time is the key! Too little time and the coffee is "thin";
> too much time and you start extracting certain more bitter oils that spoil
> the flavour and overpower the coffee's aroma. In a press (and for that
> matter in a percolator), longer times before ending the brewing process can
> only make coffee stronger at the expense of flavour and aroma.

True, but I've used a press so seldom... Maybe that's why I like my
express so much. When it's done, it tell you (silence at the end of
the noise--but even then, I do judge by my ears when to take it off
and pour it) ;-)

> This is another part of the terrible tragedy of not having the use of my
> "Extras"; I've had to fall back on using other means to time my cafetiere.
> :(

You do know about the alternate methods of calling up the Clock don't
you? If you have access to the Notepad, you tap the clock in the
upper-left corner. If you have access to Avi's you can set the clock
to pop up when you tap the time. Also, other apps with the time
displayed in the upper-left corner also often pop up the clock when
you tap the time.

> For information, I've worked out a series of equivalencies of the amount of
> coffee per cup, which varies according to the particular cofffee and roast
> I'm using, so that I can always time the coffee for 4.5 minutes. In my
> experience, with most coffees this is optimum to get all the flavour but
> none of the nastiness. This has made it possible to teach my wife and son
> how to make and enjoy coffee as well. And of course, all my experimental
> data was carefully copied over into my Newton for posterity.

I am _definitely_ a coffee slob! I like and enjoy a very, very good
cup of coffee, and have, I suppose, accidently come across a method
that produces very good coffee, but I drink all of it! Drip, perfect,
imperfect, all of it. I have learned, however, how to add proper
amounts of coffee and sugar to get a non-bitter, but non-sweet coffee
out of even the yuckiest coffee--the key, btw, is the cream, not the
sugar! But I drink it all.

Oh, and to make matters worse, I have an old, gold _plastic_ Dunk'n
Donuts cup that I bought here in Krakow I prefer to drink out of.
Somehow, coffee just tastes better out of that cup than any other cup
I've used. When we travel (even back to the States), that cup comes
with me! But I'm a slob, and I know it. ;-)

> PS -- Jon, like you I enjoy stovetop espresso when I can get to a stove,
> but even more than that, if I can be at a stove, then I can make -- let's
> call it "Mediterranean" coffee, to avoid the arguments about whether it's
> Greek, or Turkish, or Damascene, or whatever. I've been fortunate enough
> to be taught a number of regional variations, and now everything else,
> including my carefully calibrated cafetiere-made coffee, is second best to

I've never had an occasion to try this stuff--I know it has to be made
by someone who knows what they are doing, and I have yet to meet one
of those someones...

I do enjoy a Polish favorite when I don't have my express. Measure out
your grounds into your cup, pour boiling hot water, wait for the
grounds to settle, and drink. The grounds sink on their own when they
are done, and no, the coffee never tastes bitter. I buy the
"traditional" ground, so don't know if there's something special to
that or not, but when I tried this in the States, and it didn't work
so well...

-- 
 -Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<jonglass@usa.net>
There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published
opinion.   --Winston Churchill
-- 
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Received on Fri Sep 1 02:46:33 2006

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