[Sca-cooks] coffee
lilinah at earthlink.net
lilinah at earthlink.net
Sun Apr 23 01:03:36 PDT 2006
Stefan li Rous wrote:
>I too, like the smell of coffee and I like the taste of coffee
>flavored ice cream. And I've like the chocolate covered coffee beans
>I've had.
>
>However, the two times I've had coffee in my life, once back in
>college and once at Pennsic, the "standard" coffee seemed rather
>watery and dilute like it was missing something.
Yeah, that's the pathetic stuff that passes for coffee. Nasty. I only
drink it when desperate. I had my first cup of Peet's coffee in 1968
and i've been spoiled ever since.
Don't let Starbucks fool you. Their coffee isn't roasted as well as
Peets and their beverages try to emulate melted ice cream, more than
a good cup of good coffee.
>Perhaps I'm just
>more used to soft drinks,
Mmm, sounds like it :-)
>but I'm wondering if coffee brewed in this
>"Turkish Coffee gear" or whatever might be more to my liking. If I
>remember right, isn't this turkish coffee served in smaller cups?
>Which to me, implies it is thicker or at least stronger.I'm not sure
>if it is strength or texture/thickness which I find wanting.
The only way you'll know is to try various coffees. Each coffee from
each part of the world tastes different for each other. I have a
profound dislike for South American coffees. My preferred coffees are
from Ethiopia, the Arabian Peninsula (aka Mocha, which is a location,
in the Yemen, IIRC), and Indonesia - and the coffee from each island
differs from that of each other - the most famous coffees being from
Sumatra, Sulawesi (formerly known as the Celebes), and Java. Sulawesi
is the best, followed by Sumatra, with Java trailing.
And then you need to try the coffee you like brewed different ways to
find which method produces the best flavor. Percolating makes the
coffee harsh - it destroys the subtleties of the different flavors.
(i grew up on percolated coffee - i don't remember what my mother
bought - Maxwell House?). Mr. Coffee makers and their ilk do
something else. I used one when i needed to get out of the house fast
for a long commute, but the coffee is not as richly flavored as the
Melitta filter coffee i usually make. I grind my coffee myself almost
as fine as for Turkish coffee then make it in a filter, so my coffee
has a bit more physical body. Some people swear by the French press
method as being even better than Melitta.
The method of brewing "Turkish" coffee is something else again. Part
of the trip is the conviviality of the coffee drinkers sitting around
while the coffee is made. Custom varies from one culture to another
as to whether or not a spice is added - in some places cardamom is
added, in others ginger, and yet others nothing but coffee, sugar,
and water. The ingredients are put in a small pot, heated until it
foams up, removed from the fire, the the foaming is repeated, and the
coffee poured (i'm over simplifying a bit). The coffee is strong,
very sweet, and thick. Again, custom varies as to whether the coffee
drinker consumes the sludge in the bottom of the cup or not. Because
of the attention it takes, this is not the typical coffee of America.
So if one is not a mindless coffee drinker, there are a number of
subtleties to be taken into account - where the coffee is from, how
it is roasted, and how it is brewed (of course, old stale/rancid
coffee is right out). The average cup of coffee in the average
restaurant is barely more than just nasty brown and often sour water.
--
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita
who rarely drinks sodas because they're too sweet
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