Good morning, friends,
A funny morning here in Maine. We often have “snow days” in winter, where the schools are closed because of too much snow, but this morning we are having a flood day. A night of pounding rain and howling winds has left trees down, roads washed out and creeks high enough to cover roads. Mother Nature reminding us of who is in charge again.
I’ll be roasting this Sunday (February 28), then delivering and shipping on Monday. The coffees this week are on the website.
A reminder for those of you who live locally – I’ll deliver at no charge to your house (in Freeport or Yarmouth) if you order two pounds or more. Pick the Local’s Club option on the website when you order, or just send me an email.
Oh, and would you like your coffee free? Here’s how . . .
Go collect orders for five pounds from your friends and neighbors, and you are now a Coffee Czar! Then, send us an order for six pounds or more (to one address, please) and as the Czar, you’ll get your pound for free! Enter the coupon code CoffeeCzar at checkout.
This morning, I’d like to share ten quick tips on how to improve your daily coffee experience:
1. Grind your coffee just before brewing (yes, we know it is convenient to do it the night before, but the coffee will really taste better this way).
2. Use good water . . . if the water from your tap tastes funky, no amount of good coffee will make that taste go away.
3. If you use a brewing method with paper filters, rinse the filters first – makes your coffee taste like coffee rather than paper!
4. Be courteous to the one who follows. If you make the coffee first in your house at say, 5:30 and the next coffee drinker gets up at 7:00, do them a favor and throw out all the remaining coffee after you drink yours so they can make a freshy. Coffee is at its best in the ten minutes after brewing. The one exception here is if you use a thermal carafe . . . these help a lot.
5. Don’t use boiling water. 212F is a bit too hot for brewing, and it can overextract the coffee. Either let the water boil and then rest for a minute, or take the water off the stove when it starts to make some noise just before boiling. Ideally you’d like the water coming off the stove to be about 208.
6. If your brewing method allows it, stir the coffee as you add water to it (as in French Press or pourover methods). This ensures that all the grounds are wet and the agitation helps with the extraction.
7. Buy a good grinder. Buy a good grinder. Buy a good grinder. (Remember the concept of “subliminal seduction,” where it was said that theatre owners inserted individual frames into films that said “Eat tasty popcorn”?) Buy a good grinder.
8. Don’t ever store your coffee in the fridge. If you get your coffee from us and it was just roasted (the date is on the bottom of the bag), and you will drink your pound in a week, its OK to wrap the bag up tightly and leave it on the counter. If it will take you longer than this, leave the bag out for a few days (the coffee will improve in taste up to about the fourth day after roasting) and then freeze it. Going in and out of the fridge causes a lot of moisture to flush into your bag every time you open it, and this will make your coffee go stale sooner. Buy a good grinder.
9. At the store (if you are one of the very few readers here who don’t get their coffee from us – hint hint), pick your coffee from the back so you get the freshest roasted beans.
10. And last, if you buy espresso-based drinks from cafes, try to watch them make your drink, and get a sense if they are doing it properly. The shots themselves should take about 25 seconds to come out of the machine, and the milk should be gently and controllably frothed to about 150-160F. If you see a milk pitcher exploding with foam in the manner of a Mentos-Coke science class experiment, they have burned and overstretched your milk. Good espresso-based drinks are worth double what you paid and bad ones are just a rip off. The Royal Bean has an awesome espresso bar set up so you can watch your drink being prepared, and their friendly staff will happy to explain what they are doing to you.
In closing, I have a bonus suggestion, applicable to any brewing method or setting. Take a moment to taste your coffee and savor the experience. Close your eyes. Smell it. Wrap your hands around the warmth of the cup. Taste a little, then some more. What does it remind you of? Is it too hot, too cold, too milky or too sweet? Is it perfect?
Its funny as I move around the neighborhood in the mornings how much coffee is being consumed on auto-pilot as cars go by, as though it was an IV of caffeine rather than a food product.
Taking that special moment for the coffee is both an opportunity to taste the coffee and an opportunity for you to just relax in the simplicity of the moment.
Thanks for your support folks – enjoy the weekend!
Kent
