Coffee Bean Mystery Delight

Last week I ground the last of M.E. Swings's Diplomat Blend.  Too cheap to buy good coffee, I peered inside the "coffee closet" finding an airtight Tupperware.  An odd mixture of light and dark roasted beans were in the container, most likely aged Dunkin' Donuts and Archer Farms coffee.  Yes, the great recession has hit the coffee budget hard.  Gone is Intelligentsia, Counter Culture, and Third Wave coffee.  Enter First Wave.

I poured the beans into the coffee grinder, set it to a coarse grind for a French Press, and boiled water.  Pouring it into the press produced miniscule bloom, a nanometer thick to be exact.  The coffee looked anemic, little life, no luster.   Yet after serving myself, signs pointed towards to a good cup; a nice chocalety film hugged the edges and after first sip, my eyes expanded to the warm, velvety, and bittersweet taste.  After 5 minutes, I voraciously consumed my beverage.

The coffee cup was used and abused. 

I have a half hopper of this mystery coffee left.   This is why I should start a coffee journal; to keep notes and remember which coffee I have bought and when, but then the mystery would be gone...

Coffee Sludge on the French Press. Use a Q-tip

Coffee sludge: The stealthy, ever-present, clogging, schmutzig material that bitters and destroys complex, dynamic coffee flavors.  Pictured left, right below the metal coil is a coffee ring of sludge that had slowly formed over a period of weeks.  

If it is one thing I despise about coffee, it is cleaning.  I hate cleaning.  The Fiance can tell you that.  Cleaning, especially cleaning coffee equipment and properly disposing coffee grounds is a pain.  *Note to self* Coffee grounds can not go into garbage disposal!  Yet, despite my best efforts coffee grounds pepper the kitchen, hide in the crannies of my French Press, and defy my overtures to be cleaned up.  Nevertheless, cleaning is necessary to maintain a good cup of coffee, whether it be drip coffee, espresso, or concocting a perfect latte.  I tell myself that a little clean up every time avoids the long clean up later.  

Unfortunately, I did not follow this advice and now I am forced to a get a paper towel and clean out the coffee sludge on my press.  Yesterday, Barista On Duty and I tweeted a conversation, yes that is possible, on how to clean those French Press coils.  I initially used a paper towel, then a tooth pick, but nothing scraped out all the grime.  He recommended a wet Q-tip.  We shall see.

Yums, coffee sludge

The French Press is Dead, Long Live the French Press

Yesterday, I desperately needed coffee. Grabbing my French Press, I pulled the plunger out finding the plastic holding the metal nylon in place broke! I am not quite sure how either, but I shall keep my suspicions to myself. Initially, I thought I could glue it back together, but thinking the glue would be coming in contact with the coffee I decided against it.

Wanting a Bodum French press, I walked to the local Starbucks (*gasp*), which sells Bodum products. Despite Starbucks's polarizing nature, Bodum makes quality products. I bought it for 20 dollars, and returned home ready to put it through its paces. After heating the water, grinding, steeping, plunging, and pouring. The coffee's flavor tasted smooth with no acidity. Mind you, this was the same Ethiopian coffee I had in the moka pot in an earlier post. So now I have to blame user error on the bitterness. Sorry Archer Farms! Here are some pictures I took of the press and coffee bloom after pouring and stirring the hot water with the coffee grinds. Regarding taste, the Bodum rather than the Bonjour (the French press that broke) was clear. The Bodum has a glass carafe and a better constructed metal filter. If you are in the market for a French press, I highly recommend Bodum, even if you have to buy it at a Starbucks.

[Disclaimer: I am actually not a paid representative of Bodum, despite my favorable reviews about their espresso cups and French Presses. :-)]