Coffee....
Coffee, a drink made in heaven, well almost. Perish the monk who took the devil seed and distilled it to make the first cup of coffee! Now if he patented the idea, he could have left his goat herd behind and lived a life of complete opulence and excess, not only him but the rest of his offspring for all eternity. Thank God for small mercies, the monk lived in a time where patents were not even invented yet and fortunately or unfortunately, I am not sure which, monks are celibate.
But enough bantering about the origins of coffee and the possibilities of what could have been, coffee is a drink that is close to my heart and, well, the cornerstone of my fluid intake. Now I have been told that coffee is a diuretic, I am hoping the water in the coffee is enough to compensate for this effect, however somehow I think not, I live in hope.
Coffee comes in various forms from fine powdered instant coffees to full bodied roasted coffee beans, which have to be ground and brewed. There are even fake coffees, somehow someone in there infinite wisdom believes that chicory tastes just like coffee and have even placed them in the supermarket shelves right next to the real stuff. There should be a law demanding a big bill board next to these items stating that they are NOT THE REAL THING.
Unlike tea, which requires some skill to make, coffee on the other hand is rather simple. For the absolute amateur the only skill required is to boil water, very hard to mess this up, and coffee strength is determined by the amount of instant coffee in the cup. For the connoisseur there are plungers, espresso machines, filter coffee makers and percolators all designed to bring out the best in coffee, its rich aroma and full bodied taste and for the true connoisseur, a brew that's akin to mud, the real coffee drinkers. None of these skills, I must admit, have I ever mastered.
But this weekend I found the answer, and yes in a moment of weakness I got it, a coffee machine where you add water, a cartridge, a press of a button and out pours the perfect cup of coffee. Rich full bodied with a crown of thick foam, I read somewhere that the quality of coffee can be measured by its crown, a coffee for the connoisseur.
Oh about the instant coffee, I keep a bottle nearby, lest I long for the coffee of my innocence....:-)
But enough bantering about the origins of coffee and the possibilities of what could have been, coffee is a drink that is close to my heart and, well, the cornerstone of my fluid intake. Now I have been told that coffee is a diuretic, I am hoping the water in the coffee is enough to compensate for this effect, however somehow I think not, I live in hope.
Coffee comes in various forms from fine powdered instant coffees to full bodied roasted coffee beans, which have to be ground and brewed. There are even fake coffees, somehow someone in there infinite wisdom believes that chicory tastes just like coffee and have even placed them in the supermarket shelves right next to the real stuff. There should be a law demanding a big bill board next to these items stating that they are NOT THE REAL THING.
Unlike tea, which requires some skill to make, coffee on the other hand is rather simple. For the absolute amateur the only skill required is to boil water, very hard to mess this up, and coffee strength is determined by the amount of instant coffee in the cup. For the connoisseur there are plungers, espresso machines, filter coffee makers and percolators all designed to bring out the best in coffee, its rich aroma and full bodied taste and for the true connoisseur, a brew that's akin to mud, the real coffee drinkers. None of these skills, I must admit, have I ever mastered.
But this weekend I found the answer, and yes in a moment of weakness I got it, a coffee machine where you add water, a cartridge, a press of a button and out pours the perfect cup of coffee. Rich full bodied with a crown of thick foam, I read somewhere that the quality of coffee can be measured by its crown, a coffee for the connoisseur.
Oh about the instant coffee, I keep a bottle nearby, lest I long for the coffee of my innocence....:-)
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