No matter how hot it gets — and it’s getting plenty hot! — I refuse to surrender my two cups of steaming black coffee in the morning.
Remember the old Folger’s jingle? “The best part of wakin’ up,” and so on? Well, the best part of waking up is not “Folger’s in your cup” — it’s waking up, because this means you didn’t snuff it during the night, which in turn means you can now get out of bed and make yourself a proper cup of actual coffee.
I’m not a coffee Nazi, but at home — and whenever possible on the road — I have my rituals.
I start with Santa Fe’s Aroma Coffee, roughly a 60-40 mix of their Blacklightning and French Roast beans, hand-ground either that morning or the night before. I used to rely upon an ancient Braun espresso maker that I’ve dragged all over Creation, but finally decided that an AeroPress and an OXO electric pour-over kettle were a whole lot less likely to explode on me before achieving coffee. I’m not afraid to die unless it happens before coffee.
If I’m car camping, I grind my beans before leaving El Rancho Pendejo and use an elderly Coleman two-burner and a battered blue-enamel coffee pot to boil water for the AeroPress.
Camping camping? Downsize the cooking gear to a Soto OD-1R stove, a Snow Peak titanium pot, and an AeroPress Go.
And if I’m lording it in some motel … goddamn it, I hate to admit this, but if there’s a Starbuck’s within walking distance I’m likely to just stagger over there and slam a couple Americanos. If I moteled it more often I’d acquire some small electric kettle and do it up right.
Because the second-best part of waking up is that first cup of coffee.
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May sound a little nuts, but with the heat waves scorching so many locales currently, I’ve been enjoying making our coffee in the AM and then cutting it in half with H2O and then adding lots of ice cubes. Iced coffee for breakfast! Wowsa! 🙂
No, it makes perfect sense. I like iced coffee too, and iced tea, especially in hot weather … but there’s something about a hot cup of black coffee that says “morning” to me.
“Wake up, fool, there’s chores need doing!” That sort of thing.
I’m enjoying some iced coffee right now. It’s excess from what I made this AM and I just hate to waste food, etc.
I’m not sure about grinding my beans too long before I make the coffee. I like to think that I’m capturing as much of the aromatics as possible if I delay grinding until just before making coffee. But if I do have ground coffee around, I make sure that it is sealed up tight. I suppose it’s a bit ironic considering that when you buy good coffee, the packages normally have a one-way valve to allow the coffee to vent-off.
For me, it’s about getting that first cup down the hatch fast fast fast. For that one I grind my beans night before. Then, with my fix taking hold, I casually grind enough for the second cup, which is the jet-black icing on my caffeine cake, to be savored slowly.
And yup, we keep all ground coffee in sealed containers.
I wish I could have a cuppa in the afternoon, but I inherited Mom’s insomnia and just thinking about coffee after noon will keep me up all night.
Coffee in the morning is an absolute must. And, it must have real 1/2 and 1/2 in it. Perhaps a nice lexan measuring cup, to heat the water in the microwave, would work with your Aero Press Go in the hotel room? Most hotel rooms have microwaves and a mini-fridge these days. When they didn’t, we used an electric kettle, two Melitta one cup cones, and Campmore insulated mugs for hotel coffee. Don Francisco’s Kona Blend in a can would do on the road. We also still have our 12 volt Koolatron cooler, with 110 adapter, that we use for road trips. That’s for the 1/2 and 1/2 and the barley pops!
Herself favors the Organic Valley Grassmilk Half & Half. When I was a sprout I drank coffee that way, but switched to black at some point; can’t quite remember when.
In any case, black it is, which certainly simplifies the morning fix. Bing bang boom and we’re off to the races.
The lexan cup is a good idea. I gotta file that one away for my next motel stay.
I have a simple, well, maybe not so simple, ritual. Get up. Tromp to the kitchen. Fill a pot with water and boil. Grab the bag of beans, which lately has been some microroast stuff Trader Joe’s sells. I had been mixing a really nice Iconik roast with a Mexican and Nicaraguan roast from La Montanita, but lately, TJ has some nice stuff-currently an Indian Pearl Mountain and Honduras Colibri Esmeralda, medium roasts. Grind beans and do the pour over in a Chemex flask. Get cat food set up and feed and medicate the cat. Drink coffee. Read morning email and news and curse loudly.
When those Trader Joe microroasts run out, back to the co-op and Iconik stuff.
“Drink coffee. Read morning email and news and curse loudly.”
Hee, and also haw. These are likewise part of my daily ritual. When I get my cuss on I can hear doors and windows closing throughout the cul-de-sac.
I like the new masthead. It suits your predicted high today of 106! I hate to say this, but the high parked over you gives us good monsoon moisture flow from the South. So far the monsoon has been a bust save a 1/4 inch a few nights ago.
The monsoon here is AWOL. Looks like Bibleburg is hogging all the precip. Oh, well, can’t say I don’t have nice sunny weather for the cycling … as long as I’m out and back by 9 a.m. Otherwise I start to hear a sizzle and smell something not unlike bacon in the skillet.
Our fave whole bean coffee is from a local roaster called Mocha Moments. They run a wonderful little cafe where all the magic happens. And since this is Wisconsin their flagship is (wait for it) “Northwoods Blend.”
I would have thought it would be called “cheesy blend”.
I miss having a cafe in the ’hood. In the Greater Patty Jewett Yacht & Gun Club Neighborhood a decent cup of joe and a tasty nibble was a block away. VeloNews shooter Casey B. Gibson and I used to meet there now and then to compare notes on who was a good skin and who needed a righteous beatdown. The latter was always a longer list. Much, much longer.
There was one time in my past that I lived about 200 yards away from my credit union, my buddy’s bike shop and my favorite coffee shop. Life was pretty good then.
Yep. It appears you’ll reach the big 4-0 today. Scorching. I’d advise getting a ride to the top of some big hill in the area and coast down. You can consider it “speed work”. Be sure to have the kiddie pool set up for your return.
I understand that the only masthead image appropriate for those in Phoenix is a melting pitchfork.
Those poor sods in Phoenix. Doesn’t seem like there’s any end to their misery in the near future. The hits just keep on coming.