Sometimes we change things up just for the sake of variety. Other times we have variety thrust upon us.
I broke the coffee carafe yesterday.
“Crappage!” I growled.
Busy with a deadline, I didn’t have time to race to the mall and buy a replacement. Or to go out in search of my morning brew, which would have necessitated changing out of my pajamas and doing everything else required to make myself presentable to polite society.
Whew! Catastrophe averted!
So I reached into the cabinet and pulled out the French press I’d had for years but seldom used. Yeah! Belated use of nephews’ Christmas present! Thank you, nephews!
I didn’t remember how to use it and couldn’t find the instructions anywhere.
Tick…tick…tick…
So I consulted the Internet for a few basic pointers and then plunged right in, ground the beans coarsely and poured in the not quite boiling water. And in less time than the coffeemaker takes to do its thing I was enjoying some really good, really smooth coffee. (No offense to my tea drinking friends, but I believe the best thing you can do with a tea kettle is heat water for your French press!)
I just sat down to Day #2 of French press coffee. I’m liking this. Suddenly I’m not in such a hurry to replace the broken carafe, except that when friends come over, it’s annoying if I have to make coffee two cups at a time. So I’ll eventually get out there and replace that carafe. But nothing says I can’t keep right on using my French press. We’re good friends now.
A french press is the only way to go camping or when you are otherwise electrically challenged. Just heat the water over a fire or on the grill and viola. I do love the way coffee tastes from a french press, but I cursed the cleaning until I finally realized that the whole thing disassembles. What a dolt, I was.
I still slam the filter into the drip coffee maker most mornings, but on those special days, I love my huge french press.
After an ice storm a number of years ago, a friend used a mortar and pestle to grind his beans and a french press to make coffee. He said it wasn’t pretty, but any pot in a storm, so to speak.
No kidding! This is Day #3 of the French press, and I’m happily sipping away.
You’re making me want to chuck our camping coffee pot and stick a note in the camping stash to remember and take the press with us next time out. Of course, I’m sure I’d break it the first time I tripped over a rock or a root…
when friends come over, it’s annoying if I have to make coffee two cups at a time
There’s a solution to this. Bigger French presses are also available… *tempts*
(I have a medium-sized one – the one they call “8-cup”, tho’ I can’t imagine what size of cup they are thinking of – which powers me in the mornings; in the UK I also had a “12-cup”, for visitors. The world divides, I find, between filter-fans and French-press fans; I know which side I stand.)
Hey Chaz,
Yeah, I’m getting really spoiled on the French press. But a 12-cup model? That’s three quarts! I’d have to put on several pots of water to boil for that!
Cheers!
Carol
After several drip coffee makers over the years, I now make drip ‘by hand’, boiling water and pouring it over a ceramic coffee filter into a stainless steel pitcher. I have made a lot of changes to get healthy over the years, but turned a blind eye to the daily ritual of the coffee maker which takes boiling water and drains it through a plastic filter. It just didn’t seem right to drink it. My new method takes more time, but I think avoiding the plastic and boiling water contact is better. As is a french press, only hot water and glass. 🙂
Good point, Shana. Also, I keep the water just below boiling–195°F is best. Boiling water forces the acids and oils from the grounds into the coffee and makes it bitter. Since French press coffee cools quickly, I pour the rest of the water from the pot into my mug and let it warm up while waiting to press.
Thanks! Carol
Oh that’s a good tip. I don’t use my French press every day. But as fragile as the electrical grid seems to be in my neighborhood, I’ve been very thankful for it many times. That and a gas stove I can light with a match.
Yeah, Mark! Let’s hear it for the French press, the gas stove and a car charger for the cell phone to see us through many if not all emergencies!
I know some people in Memphis who had a peculiar stove that had both gas and electric eyes on it. They’d planned to change it out for an all-electric stove–until that whopper of an ice storm in 1994 helped them appreciate what a handy thing a gas stove can be.
Here’s to good coffee and a cozy fall & winter. See you at Christmas!
Carol