Coffee

Coffee

I'm a coffee addict. There, I said it and I meant it. I love coffee. I’ve loved good coffee since I was first introduced to French roast in Seattle in the late 90s. My God, they handed that stuff out for free in the hotel lobby and I nearly drank it from the urn once I got a taste of it. It’s been twenty years and I’m still searching for that taste, that aroma I miss so much.

Coffee is made from roasting the seeds of the coffee plant. They’re removed from the plant’s berries, dried, roasted, then ground into a powder. The drink we know as coffee is created by passing water through the ground coffee, extracting the flavor oils. This is, of course, the short form of what happens. The full version is an art that takes skill and practice to achieve perfection.

Once, years ago, I tried my hand at roasting and grinding green coffee beans. I remember placing the beans into a fluidized-bed air roaster and flipping the power on. Once the beans were the right color, I shut it off, ground the beans, and made coffee. It wasn’t bad. Heck, I may even try it again.

One final thing I found. Vacuum-insulated container storage of coffee is a heck of a lot better than keeping it on a heater. Heater coffee gets bitter as the oils break down over time. Really, the best bet is to make enough coffee to drink while it’s still hot, but if one must store, use a vacuum-insulated container. It works better. Of course, mileage may vary, so use wisely.

Frank Carey