Coffee 50's style, and by 50's style, I mean 1850's style.

Welcome to 'Fooling around with coffee'

I am a barista at a small private coffee shop that goes by the name of "The Grackle Coffee Company" (Pictured left), most folks call it the Grackle for short.

It's a very fun occupation, I am lucky enough to get to try coffee's from all over the world, of which is the highest quality, and extremely fresh. When I unpack the coffee the roasting date is stamped onto the bag, although the stamp always reads the date of the day before (yes yes we wait a couple of days to allow the gases to settle).

So for my first post I have decided to create a tutorial on how to make great coffee at home, without expensive equipment.

The French Press, also known as a Cafetière à Piston, Press Pot, Coffee Plunger, whatever the name a French Press is a fantastic device that everyone can own without breaking the bank.

So you'll need only a few items:

Chopsticks.

A French Press (go figure?).

A Kettle.

Last and not least. the best coarsely ground coffee you can get your hands on, I myself have taken some Brazilian beans roasted within the week, so the conditions are near perfect.

So first take off the top of your chosen French Press and drop into the bottom, one heaped spoon of grounds, per cup* (about 4.oz)

Of course you can add more or less grounds according to how strong you would like the coffee to be, personally I like to add about one and a half spoonfuls or sometimes even two.

Next step is to boil water, allow for the water to boil for a minute or two, just don't take the kettle off soon as it begins to boil, it actually has to boil fully. * If you have a grinder at home you should grind just before you add the water, this means you have to boil the water before you grind.

The next step is to combine the two as shown here to the left. As usual be careful when pouring the water, try you're best not to 'slop' the water into the grounds, they weigh next to nothing and will fly out.

Once you have poured the water you should get something that resembles the picture below, as you can see there is a foamy substance mixed in with the brewing grounds, this we call the blossom. As a general rule of thumb it shows the freshness of the coffee you're using.


So here is when the chopsticks come in, hold them slightly apart, I have used disposable ones merely because they were there, any will do. Hold the sticks apart in the same fashion as I, and stir the grounds and water.







You should end up with the below, the blossom is in full bloom so to speak. Now Take the lid and place it on top of the French Press, don't plunge yet but let it sit and brew for two to three minutes, for a larger French Press wait four to five minutes.




What I have done here is lifted the lid so people can see what is going on inside, I replaced it after the picture. So now you have your lid on you need to 'take the plunge'. Grip the top of the plunger and apply even pressure, move at a uniform speed and keep it straight as possible, if you don't keep it straight some grinds may escape.

















The end result, mmm tasty.















There are many variations of the French Press, both in size and form, from potable to large they are a great tool for making great coffee.

For more information about coffee visit the following links or search the web yourself.

http://www.home-barista.com/

http://www.coffeegeek.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_press