A Coffee Snob

I’ve been a coffee snob for over twenty years now. Warning: Good coffee is like premium bourbon, once you try it, all the rest is swill. If you want a good cup of coffee, here’s how to make it. First buy the non-electric Melitta coffee brewer. Any decent gourmet shop should carry it. If not, Melitta.com has them. Melitta recently started making an electric coffee maker. Do not buy this. Coffee will taste the same as all the rest made with an electric coffee makers. I think that it’s because the water is heated by an electric element which gives coffee a kind of slight metallic after taste. The manual Melitta is simply a coffee pot and a cone filter holder that rests on top of the coffee pot. Place the filter in the cone and put the water on to boil.

While the water is coming to a boil let me tell you about the coffee. Buy whole bean coffee and grind it as you need it. It makes a huge difference to make coffee with fresh grounds and I always grind the beans to a literal dust consistency. As far as brand of coffee to buy, that’s up to what you prefer. We buy our coffee from the local Fresh Market. They used to carry Tip Of The Andes coffee, a delicate heavenly brew, but they don’t carry it anymore for whatever reason. I’ve found Tip Of The Andes online. Currently we usually buy the Fresh Market Blend which has a nice balance of light and dark beans.

Ok, the water is just starting to boil. Don’t boil it to death. Put the coffee pot on a stove burner on low. Put seven or eight scoops of coffee dust in the filter and slowly pour the water over it until it reaches near the top of the cone. After the first few sips of the coffee you’re magically transformed into a coffee snob and you might not ever go back to Mrs. Olsen and her swill again.