Let’s start with a simple fact. We love coffee. On our many travels and trips, we try to look for places which have great single brews of our favorite drink. I doubt we have ever been to Chicago area without making a short detour to Intelligentsia, or ever skipped the long lines of Café du Monde in New Orleans for some chicory coffee and beignets. In Austin our favorite shops include Mozarts, Ruta Maya, Austin Java and Café Medici to name a few.

These days there seems to be a lot of talk about coffee! NPR is carrying a whole series dedicated to it. Including 10 songs for coffee lovers and Seinfeld finally getting coffee;). And couple of weeks back they carried the science behind concocting a perfect cup of coffee on NPR Science Friday.
Listening to all these, we could not resist writing up how we brew our great ‘Cup of Joe’ at home. Our method goes back to the basics with simple appliances. Perfect coffee starts with boiling water, freshly ground great beans, a well-used French Press and a simple timer. There are no fancy or expensive coffee machines involved here and  the money is better spent on good  coffee beans. Generally we prefer freshly roasted beans. Ruta Maya is great choice. Now also available in Costco!

Our Favorite Kitchen Appliances for this  process are ;-

1)French Press. French press is a heat resistant glass Carafe which has a stainless steel mesh filter attached to a plunger like device. This filter separates the coffee grinds from the brewed coffee and extracts only the oils and flavors of the coffee bean in to your brewed coffee. We have two of these, a single cup one for weekdays when we have coffee at different times and a 12 cup Bodum French Press one for weekends and when we have company.

2) A Bodum Bistro Coffee Grinder which has adjustable settings for different type of coffee grinds for different brewing processes.

3) A Kettle to boil water

4) A Kitchen Timer

Art of French Press Coffee
First Step: Put water in a kettle and set it on stove to boil, let the water boil till you hear a whistle. Let it toot its horn a little bit;)
Second Step: Grind your coffee beans in the Bistro coffee grinder. The smell of freshly ground coffee is so good, it wakes you up! One can use any other coffee grinders too and make sure your coffee beans are coarsely ground, not powdered.
Third Step: Put freshly ground coffee into the French press. We try to a big heap of a coffee spoon for an 8 ounce coffee cup.
Fourth Step: After the whistle blows on your kettle, the water has perfectly boiled. Now add water into this single cup French press. And close the lid on the carafe with the plunger rod pulled up.
Fifth Step: Set a timer for four minutes. Use any timer from your iPhone or any smart phone or a simple kitchen timer. Most coffees require about 4 minutes of brewing time. You can go further if you like it your coffee bitter. But don’t let it sit with the grinds for too long.
Sixth Step: After the allotted time, press the plunger gently down in the French press, this pushes the coffee grinds down, leaving the freshly brewed coffee in the carafe.
Seventh Step: Pour the coffee into your coffee mug, add cream and sugar to your coffee if you desire and enjoy.

Though my husband thinks if you want to taste coffee, skip the sugar and taste coffee not the sweetness of sugar! He is entitled to his opinion as a coffee connoisseur since he knows how to brew a great Cup-a-Joe;)

Only one thing is certain about coffee…. Wherever it is grown, sold, brewed, and consumed, there will be lively controversy, strong opinions, and good conversation.~Mark Pendergrast in Uncommon Grounds