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By
Published: 2006
Category: Food and Wine
A butler is a snob --- for his employer, if not for himself. That is, he insists on the best. It just won't do to bring in the breakfast tray, pour the coffee, and bow his way out of the room without noticing that the master and mistress are scowling because the brew has all the appeal of battery acid.
As gifted butlers --- and a great many civilians --- know, inferior coffee is totally unnecessary. Great coffee beans are readily available at reasonable prices, as are quality coffeemakers. And the Rules of Good Coffee are few. The ritual of making Good Coffee is simple and, if I may say so, satisfying. The pleasure of drinking it is beyond words.
But you must first understand what you're doing. That is, you must grasp what I'm about to share with you, all of it, and then you must follow these directions without compromise or improvisation:
l) When you buy coffee, buy whole beans. Once coffee beans are ground, they tend to oxidize --- within a few days, the freshness has been seriously compromised. Even when ground beans are properly stored, it's like opening a bottle of Bordeaux and leaving it uncorked overnight; by morning, it's on the path to vinegar.
2) Which beans to buy? It has come to be accepted in America that dark roast = gourmet coffee. Another way to say that: If it tastes burned, it must be good. Rubbish! Over-roasting is a nifty way to disguise second-rate beans. When mass marketers start the hard sell for a "dark, full-bodied" brew, that's a good time to insert your iPod headphones and tune out. For my taste, "lighter" beans --- that is to say: Medium Roasts from Ethiopia, Colombia, Guatemala and Sumatra --- will do quite nicely, although there is much to be said for a well-calibrated Espresso Roast.
3) Have you heard that coffee beans stay fresh if you store them in the freezer? Well, they don't. In fact, freezing your beans will cause the oils to freeze --- which changes the taste. You'll do much better to store coffee beans in an airtight container in a cupboard (away from sunlight) at room temperature.
4) Beans should be ground just before you are ready to pour boiling water over them. (Don't boil pre-warmed water. Start with cold water. Some people swear you should only use mineral water; I don't go that far.)
5) Do not use an electric coffee maker if you can possibly avoid it. I prefer a glass pitcher and a Melitta drip filter, with the coffee ground appropriately (very fine). Others find that a French press (with coffee ground less fine) not only gets the job done but makes them think of Paris cafes.
6) It is entirely possible to make great coffee --- and ruin it in an hour. How? Just keep the pot over a low flame or re-heat it when you want more. Why does fire ruin coffee? Because --- attention, class, there will be a quiz on this --- coffee is not a liquid, it is a colloid. [Definition: 'substance that consists of particles dispersed throughout another substance.'] Which means fire will change the chemistry of the coffee. I'll make it simpler: Fire turns coffee into bitter sludge. Why don't the makers of electric coffee makers that keep coffee hot all day tell you this? For the same reason the tobacco companies don't tell you that cigarettes cause cancer --- the truth would put them out of business. So what's the solution? A thermos. It will keep your coffee hot and flavorful for six to eight hours. Good idea: Preheat the thermos by pouring a few ounces of boiling water in it while the coffee brews. (Remember to empty the thermos before you pour the just-brewed coffee in.)
Grinders, coffeemakers and thermoses --- these are manufactured products, with not much difference between one brand and another. The choice of coffee, however, very much matters. As a longtime coffee addict, I can honestly say I have, over the years, tried dozens of brands. For the last five years, I've been loyal to one. Correction: I've been fanatical about one roaster/distributor.
Did you know that coffee is America's second-largest import (after oil)? And that America buys about 25% of the world's coffee crop every year? This is enormous buying power, this is what it means to have a real impact on an industry. And so there are key phrases you want to master: 'fair trade' and 'shade grown', and, of course, 'organic.' These phrases tell you two things that will warm you as much as a mug of coffee on a cold morning. First, the farmers who grew these beans took the trouble to grow them correctly. Second, those farmers were paid a fair price for the beans.
Many companies sell organic, shade-grown, fair trade coffee. Peace Coffee, located in Minneapolis, takes that live-right philosophy a step further. Like: whenever possible, orders in its home city are delivered by bicycle. Like: orders in neighboring areas are delivered by biodesel-powered truck. (They use soy oil as fuel.) Like: when they send you your coffee, an actual human being writes 'thanks!' on the packing slip. And one more nice touch: Buy 10 pounds, take 15% off the bill.
Connoisseurs have taken to talking about coffee as if it were wine. There are 'top notes.' There is 'finish.' There are 'hints' and 'undercurrents.' I loathe that pretense. Great coffee tastes really good --- how's that for a way of judging it? By that standard, Peace Coffee is unfailingly superior. They take care at every stage of the process --- buying, roasting, packaging, shipping --- and so, when you break the seal on a pound of Peace beans, you know you're going to have a good experience and a delicious cup of joe. Every time. Without fail.
There are surely people in your life who say coffee is bad for you. I would say in response: Coffee contains antioxidants. A good thing. And caffeine. A great thing. And when you make it right, it's the best-tasting, most soul-satisfying drink in the world. So don't settle....
To order from Peace Coffee, click here.
To buy the Braun KSM2-BLK Coffee Grinder from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy the Melitta Cone Filter Coffee Maker, click here.
To buy the Bodum 8-Cup Coffee Press from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy the Zojirushi Thermal 1-Liter Carafe from Amazon.com, click here.