Coffee

[Mortblanc]

SS if you were on an American forum you would have just opened a thread that would live for years, run to hundreds of pages and contain thousands of posts.

We might be known all over the world as the people with a "gun culture", but more intensely than that, we are a people with a "coffee culture".

While you in GB might have a coffee in the morning and switch to tea mid day with even a special meal centered around tea in the late afternoon over here we start the day with coffee, we take a morning break with coffee, we have a special coffee after lunch as a desert, we have a cup around 3pm as a pick-me-up and then we have a soothing cup, or a soothing half pot, after dinner.

We might have an early morning business meeting and make a deal over a cup of coffee at 6am. We might spin into that 7/11 two or three times a day for a quick cup and when we eat at pubic eateries we make our selection based on who has the best cup of coffee.

A meet-up for coffee is often the first step into a romantic relationship since it is nonalcoholic, non-committal, available any time day or night. And if the other party answers your offer of stopping somewhere for a cup with the words "I don't drink coffee.", well then you did not have a prayer of making a go of it with a non-coffee drinker anyway.

Wife #1 could not make coffee worth $h!te! Her own father once described it as "brutal" and he had fought all the way across north Africa and from Normandy to Czechoslovakia drinking instant K-rat coffee the whole time.

I myself have been sexually assaulted on several occasions by wife #2 after bringing the perfect cup of coffee to her bedside. What that girl would do for a good cup of coffee was inspiring. (fresh ground beans, a hint of hazel nut, a drop of vanilla, real cream and two sugars)

But the answer to your query is the sad truth that coffee taste is dependent on many factors and not just brand. It is also dependent on your method of preparation!

"And that was when the fight started!"

What type of coffee maker you use, what kind of water is available, grind quality of the beans, how long and how much heat is applied to the batch all has an influence on taste.

However, as a bush-crafter, and especially as a re-enactor, I can say that the best coffee I have ever had was roasted whole beans boiled over a brushwood campfire, in an enamelware pot using water fresh from a limestone cave on a frosty October evening.

Waffle House runs a close second.

That means that the real trick is in the preparation of the brew more than the brand of the beans or even their grind. You have to experiment. How much coffee, what grind size, filtered or unfiltered water, drip perked/french pressed or old style percolator, when do you remove from the heat?

It is a science, but it is not rocket science. If you take enough time you will get it right, eventually.

And after all that I go back to my very best cup made over the campfire. Here is the hobo method. I am not sure if you have a Hobo history over there. Ours comes from our Civil War experience. Yours would probably equal workmen being "on tramp" back in the 18th/19th Centuries. Traveling light with only the basics. A tin pot, a tin cup, a little coffee or tea, all rolled in a blanket roll.

Use a sauce pan, enamelware pot or a big tin can. Put some water in there until it is about 1 1/2-2" from the top. Sprinkle enough whole roasted coffee beans on top until they completely cover the surface of the water, then a few more.

Now put the cooker on the heat. Boil the mess until it foams up and overflows the container, then reduce the heat (in our case this was moving the pot from the middle of the fire to the edge of the fire). Tell one more wild-A story no one believes as the coffee simmers.

Now pull the pot from the fire and pour the brew carefully, being careful not to get any beans in the cup. Let it cool for a minute, it is boiling hot since it just came off the campfire.

If it is too weak boil it for a little longer. If it is too strong add a little water until you get it right.

You can do the same thing inside on the hob or using a drip maker. Adjust your amount of coffee, adjust your amount of water, try two paper filters in the drip machine instead of only one, try filtered water/tap water/bottled water. You can even tie ground coffee up in a sachet and boil it if you do not have whole beans.

Every morning I place 1/4 cup of coffee grounds into my drip machine. I use any of the major brands as long as they are 100% pure coffee with no fillers.

I use one paper filter and put 8 cups of tap water in the reservoir. (I have excellent water here) I let that run completely through and then wait a few minutes more for everything to settle down, then I pour my first cup of the day. I lose 2 cups to evaporation in the brewing process. I usually drink the 6 cups before lunch time.

In your situation I would try for one of the European brands of coffee. The Dutch are especially fond of good strong coffee so their brands are probably richer than what you have at the local market, offered by people that would rather have tea.

Good luck with that.