Coffee & Me
By LeRoy Chatfield
I say it again: everyone is an addict, but some addictions are more socially acceptable than others. Yes, it is true, I am an addict – truth be told I have many addictions but the one I choose to write about today is my addiction to coffee.
Believe me, I am not alone. More than 150 million people in the U.S. are addicted to coffee. What is the saying? Misery loves company? I have boatloads of company to share my addiction with. But all coffee addicts cannot be lumped together into one category – there are many strains of coffee addiction.
For example, 35% of coffee addicts like their coffee black. I fall into that category. 50 % of them like their coffee hot, I don’t quite fit into that level of addiction because I absolutely insist that my coffee be very hot, otherwise, I find it undrinkable and not only does it not provide a fix for my addiction, it exacerbates it.
For the same reason – very hot – I cannot be counted among the 68% of coffee drinkers who make their own coffee at home with an electric coffee maker – for example like a Joe DiMaggio’s Mr. Coffee maker. In my experience, electric coffee makers are programmed to make coffee that is just a notch above lukewarm . . . if you are lucky. No offense, but I can’t even count the number of times I have suffered throughout middle age drinking lukewarm coffee made by electric coffee makers and offered to me by family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, B & B hosts, hotels and restaurants.
Yes, I agree with you! It’s a free country and people should be allowed to make and drink the kind of coffee that satisfies their own addiction even if it doesn’t fix mine.
I feel your exasperation: For crying out loud! – if LeRoy can’t drink their coffee, why doesn’t he make his own coffee?
Thank you! I came to the same conclusion.
How LeRoy Makes Coffee For Two Persons
Items Needed
1 glass coffee pot (48 oz) / 1 plastic cone to fit on top of coffee pot / 1 size #6 coffee filter to put inside cone / 1 16-oz measuring cup / 1 6–oz glass coffee cup with saucer / Nicaragua coffee beans / 1 coffee bean grinder (Cuisinart preferred) / 1 electric tea kettle (Cuisinart preferred)
Instructions
Pour 35 ounces of filtered cool water (from your fridge or other)) into tea kettle, set regulator to “boil’.
Place size #6 coffee filter inside plastic cone.
Grind coffee beans – (1) set grinder setting 3 notches past Medium; (2) set number of cups to grind to 12.
Place the ground coffee inside the coffee filter in the plastic cone on top of coffee pot.
Pour the boiling water into the plastic cone to filter the coffee; set stove burner heat to low.
After the boiling water has passed through the coffee beans for the first time set aside the plastic cone with the coffee grounds to re-use again. (This is first filtering)
Place the pouring lid on the coffee pot and pour the coffee into the 16-oz measuring cup and into the 6-oz coffee cup. Then place the cone with the coffee grounds back on top of the coffee pot and again pour the coffee from the 16-oz measuring cup and the 6-oz coffee back through the coffee grounds in the cone. (This is second filtering)
Again set aside the plastic cone containing the coffee grounds to re-use and pour the coffee into the 16-oz measuring cup and the 6-oz coffee cup and pour them through the cone filter containing the coffee grounds. (This is third filtering)
Remove cone from coffee pot, put on pouring lid. Your coffee is now ready to drink. Enjoy!
Coffee Bean Recommendation
During my early years of making coffee, I purchased coffee beans from Peets Coffee – generally Costa Rica. But when a new Sprouts Supermarket opened up closer to home, I experimented with their large selection of bulk coffee beans – Costa Rica, Guatemala and Sumatra Blend were the most satisfying kinds, and far less expensive than Peets.
A year ago while spending a few days in Mendocino CA, I found coffee beans from Nicaragua imported and roasted by the Thanksgiving Coffee Company headquartered in Fort Bragg, a few miles north of Mendocino. When I returned home and made this coffee, it was love at first taste! My addiction is completely satisfied! Now, I purchase a 5 lb bag every 5 weeks – Nicaragua Light Roast (Flor de Jinotega) – $76 per bag, free shipping. $76 divided by 35 days = $2.17/day or 36 cents/cup.
Ben Asks Mildred What She Thinks
Mildred, you know LeRoy’s wife, what does she think about his crazy, over-the-top coffee making process or has she ever talked about it? Ben, I don’t know if he is crazy, but he is certainly a coffee addict. She only talked about it once that I remember and said that LeRoy sometimes gets carried away about things, but she also said that he makes the best coffee she has ever tasted!