Friday Fave Five (F3)

I think we all have our favorite blogging meme. Some of us participate in "Wordless Wednesday. For me it's the "Friday Fave Five" or F3. This week's F3 is devoted to coffee.

Back in the day -  before barista became a part of the urban lexicon, I worked at a coffee shop with three locations. On weekdays, it opened at 7:00 am. The patrons would line up outside for their morning fix in the humid dampness of pre-Katrina New Orleans. At 6:00 am, a pair of us would start brewing the coffee, a medium roast, a dark roast and decaf. Initially, we brewed the coffee in glass carafes, one carafe at a time. Then make freshly brewed iced tea. And turn on the Gaggia, the Italian cappuccino machine. Drinking coffee is a simple pleasure that anyone can enjoy and my five favorite coffee accoutrements are:


Friday Fave Five (F3)

1. Toddy Maker (aka cold-drip coffee maker)
2. Tassimo (almost instantaneous coffee for one without being instant coffee)
3. Aerolatte Milk Frother
4. Filtered Water
5. Bodum Santos stovetop coffee maker (my first coffee maker)

Cold drip coffee never touches hot water. Not using hot water eliminates the bitterness. (I learned that in coffee school!) I purchased my cold drip coffee (toddy) maker at a bodega down the street from where I lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was on clearance for $15. Before I got my toddy maker, I would make iced coffee in old one gallon glass pickle jars.  

Iced Coffee Recipe (Without Toddy Maker)

1 lb coffee, ground coarsely 
(finely ground coffee will not go through the filter)

2 tsp vanilla extract (or more to taste)

filtered water

Put coffee in one gallon jar or sun tea brewer. Fill jar to the top with filtered water and let it steep for at least 12 to 16 hours. After steeping, pour coffee through a mesh strainer lined with cheese cloth or a drip coffee filter into a carafe or pitcher. Add vanilla. The coffee is now a concentrate. Prior to serving, mix one part coffee with one part filtered water. If the coffee is too strong, add more water. Serve over ice with milk and sweeten to taste.   

Fun Facts

1. When in New Orleans, have café au lait and beignets at Café Du Monde.
2. When I was a barista my brothers called me Mrs. Olson of Folger’s coffee fame because I always smelled of coffee.
3. A great article on coffee from The New York Times.  
4. Kaldi, a goatherd, discovered coffee in Ethiopia in the 9^th century.
5. Jack Kerouac taught me how to make hobo coffee in On the Road. 

Photo Credits

Coffee Beans (courtesy of Mark Sweep, Wikipedia Commons)

Iced Coffee (Girl Sprout NM)