Making the Coffee
OK, I mis-spoke. (Or should that maybe be 'mis-blogged'? 'Mis-posted'? Lied?) I DO let myself get more than about 300 yards from a Peet's. For example, I LIVE more than 300 yeards from a Peet's. (It was a hard choice. Although the just-opened Peet's in Redwood City is very close.)
So what I do is I take Peet's beans home WITH me and make it there! I use a French press. I get the beans ground "to number 12." Today I am having a 2/3 Decaf Special Blend and 1/3 Lost Toraja.
Yes, when I am pushing the plunger it stops part way down. Thank you for asking. No, I don't push harder. (Been there, done that, had to clean it up.) What I do is spin the top of the plunger, which seems to clear things up and then the plunger is able to go down some more. (I do wonder if I just waited the same amount of time, if that would also clear things up. But just waiting for coffee is soooo hard...)
And yes, I have a one-cup plastic travel press pot that I take with me on trips.
Coming soon: Does the coffee made at the store taste better? Smelling the Coffee is not afraid to ask the big questions. And we will not be intimidated. (Try bribes.)
Comments
I tried to post this in your 1/19 entry on Stumptown but failed, but I still thought you would be interested.
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Ritual Roasters on Valencia in SF serves Stumptown coffee. It's the best coffee I've ever tasted. Their hot chocolate is similarly incredible.
Posted by: Barak | January 27, 2006 10:23 AM
Peets Arabian Mocha Sunani is... heavenly.
Posted by: Kathy Williams | January 27, 2006 10:46 AM
While I consider Peets a step up from Starbucks, I've never been particularly impressed with either of them, or with their role in making dark coffee roasts almost ubiquitous in the United States.
Old-fashioned, I am, then. My preferred coffees have come from two roasters over the past 30 years or so: Capricorn in San Francisco (haven't ordered from them in years, though) who had a Viennese blend that tasted like an authentic kleine mocha in Vienna (verified by Austrian friends in the food business) and Gillies in New York, who have always supplied me with first rate Jamaica Blue Mountain of clearly ascertainable pedigree and authenticity.
Posted by: Cato | January 27, 2006 3:36 PM
Hoorah for the coffee press! This was literally a foreign object to me until I married an Englishman. With an electric kettle (about $40), a small grinder ($20) and a coffee press (about $15 as I recall), my husband grinds his own in minutes (coarsely, of course) and says it tastes better than anything he's ever bought from a store, be it ground or instant or overpriced barista coffee. Even though I'm not a coffee drinker, I can't see why anyone would even bother with brew-drippers.
Posted by: Elayne Riggs | January 29, 2006 8:07 AM
I've tried the coffee press thing, and still find myself using my Melitta-style top-of-cup cone holder. Maybe it's the easy cleanup, maybe it's the extra oiliness of French-press coffee, maybe it's the pretty patterns in the cone as it's filled with just-off-the-boil water and coffee grounds.
I dunno. But, of late my coffee of choice has been Peet's Maduro Blend or Lighthouse Roaster's Blend (from their storefront roastery/cafe just up the hill from my apartment).
Posted by: Larry B | January 30, 2006 9:42 AM
In accordance with traditional media stylings, when you tell a lie and get caught you are expected to say the misinformation was "inartfully worded"
That is the newspeak for bullshit.
Posted by: the bewilderness | January 30, 2006 12:06 PM
I too prefer my cone holder - coffee maker, however, there is a time and place...and well, absolute need for the ever necessary travel French Press. If you travel and you do not own one - I must strongly urge you to purchase one. You never know where you may end up and they may *gasp* have bad coffee! I suggest traveling with a French Press and your favorite brew at all times.
Cheers!
Posted by: Jessica | February 5, 2006 12:24 PM