Urspo makes some coffee

Urs Truly is a regular reader of Cooks Illustrated. It specializes in the ultimate ‘proper’ recipes. They are not snobs; they merely want to make the best of everything, based on trial and error and the application of science.  In the latest edition there is an article on how to make a proper cup of coffee. As you know I am an acolyte of tea. My experience with coffee so far is the black bilge sold in cardboard cups or made in work office coffee-machines. The machines are suspect and worrisome for no one cleans them on a regular basis and the tap water at work is none too pleasant. Perhaps I merely haven’t had a ‘proper cup’ yet to appreciate what all the coffee fuss is about.

Cooks Illustrated is in full agreement. For a truly most excellent cup they recommend grinding coffee beans as you need them and to shun the pre-ground rubbish sold in bulk in plastic containers. They recommend brewing coffee in a device called a ‘French press” which I always thought was for making tea (having had one once upon a time for such purposes).  A quick trip to Crate&Barrel and Albertson’s (“Excuse me, do you sell coffee?”) and I was set.

CI says to use two tablespoons of freshly ground coffee for every six ounces of water. I am not skilled with the Cuisinart; I soon had coffee bean crumbs and brown powder all over the kitchen. I need practice; the ‘grounds’ were quite a myriad of sizes. Someone got cross as I jammed the machine and nearly broke it (he doesn’t like coffee by the way. He won’t touch the stuff).

It is mesmerizing to sit and watch the grounds float around the press during the four minutes steeping time. I wondered how the brown sludge seen through the glass cylinder before me was going to turn out. It smells good. By the way this is as good as time as any to interject I think the smell of ground coffee is one of life’s most pleasant aromas. The slow pushdown of the stainless steel mesh top is jolly good fun and worth all the fuss.

What I drank puzzles me. It certainly is different than the Folgers made in the Mr. Coffee devices at work. The differences were shocking enough that I can’t determine whether or not I like what I made. This cup tasted more complex, more ‘fresh’ and I suppose more bitter – like my men. On the negative, it tasted harsh, and paradoxically more strong yet more watery, as if I got all the acidity out of the beans but not all the flavor.

I failed one of the basic rules of scientific research: I had no other cup of coffee to compare it to (preferably double-blind).

By my arithmetic I bought enough beans to make a month’s worth of experiments. Next time I will grind the beans  finer. I should perhaps use a ratio less than 4T per 6 oz. ratio.  I wonder if the type of beans makes the difference. I hadn’t a clue what beans to choose from – I thought all beans were the same. Heavens no!

As I sit and type, the coffee seems to becoming more balanced and pleasant. Whiskies and wines do that too – with exposure to air they ‘mellow’.  I will declare this first attempt a success and jolly good fun. However I am getting some palpitations to suggest next time I take my blood pressure medication before not after breakfast.