Morning begins and my eyes open once the aroma of fresh coffee wafts through the air and stimulates my olfactory sense. Pouring java into a cup awakens my hearing. The first taste of a dark roast brew enlivens my mouth. And when the caffeine courses through my veins -- I'm awake! Ironically, my kids even know that Mom must have coffee.
As a perpetual fan of espresso or a robust european dark roast I'm always on the look out for ways to enjoy the essence of the bean.
During a trip to Houston we stopped at IKEA to look for a few new dishes. While perusing the kitchen ware section I found a french press coffee pot and together my husband and I reminisced about the french press coffee we had enjoyed during our honeymoon (almost 20 years ago) at a little bed and breakfast in New Brunswick, Canada. "We could make french press," we agreed. The purchase was made.
Ken makes amazing coffee. He grinds the beans and measures out my favorite coffee creating a cup/pot that's worth waking up for! I knew that he would be equally skilled at the french press... I was right.
The coffee was smooth, rich and fresh, reminiscent of 'perk' coffee.
Here's how he did it.
1 french press coffee pot, 28 oz
coffee grinder
a tablespoon measure
timer
Coffee and Water
7 T coarse grind coffee, dark roast
28 ounces of boiling water
Begin by grinding fresh coffee beans to a coarse grind. Spoon ground coffee into pot.
Two notes: 1) While a burr grinder is best, he used our little blade grinder and still came out with a reasonably sized grind. He spooned the best grounds into the coffee pot and the remaining grounds he actually dumped into a ziploc bag to be used for drip coffee the next day. 2) the ratio of coffee to water is 1:4 -- 1 Tablespoon of ground coffee to 4 ounces of water.
boil water to a "full steam" (on my mother's old stove top tea pot the whistle would have sounded very loud).
Pour water slowly into the french press.
Stir coffee and water gently, but thoroughly.
Put lid/press on the top of the pot.
Set the timer for 4 minutes, allowing the coffee to "steep."
After 4 minutes, SLOWLY push the plunger down attempting to capture as many possible grounds as possible. Plunging too quickly results in coffee grounds in the pour.
When the plunger is all the way to the bottom the coffee is ready to pour.
Pour relatively slowly to insure that any stray grounds stay in the pot and not in the cup, though do not be surprised if at the end of a large cup there are a few dregs.
This was a full flavored, rich cup of coffee. Delicious.
