Don't suffer bad coffee this Christmas!
How to make killer coffee, on the cheap, where ever you go
Christmas is nearly upon us. For many of us, especially here in COVID free New Zealand, that means travelling to see family, or to chill out and recharge.
Travelling light and leaving behind the killer home coffee set up doesn’t mean your holiday coffee needs to suck.
Out of all the methods to make coffee, the easiest one to replicate, without the need for any special equipment, is the French Press.
At it’s core, the French Press, or plunger, is an immersion brew method. You let fresh coffee hang out with some hot water for a bit, and then pour it while trying to keep the bits out of your cup.
If you don’t a plunger, you can use literally anything else to make this marriage of happiness happen. A bowl? Sure. A jug? Totes. An empty biscuit tin? Definitely.
Method
1 - Buy fresh coffee
This is the most important bit out of this whole thing.
Buy fresh coffee from your local roaster.
Yeah, you can get coffee from a supermarket, but hasn’t 2020 been bad enough?!
Go to your roaster, tell them that you’re making coffee inside an actual boot, and they’ll sus you out some boot (plunger) ground coffee. Easy as.
2 - Boil the jug
3 - Get a spoon, chuck some coffee in ya jug/tin/boot
Use scales if you can. Go on.
But you don’t have time for that sort of jibba jabba right?
Find something to approximate a table spoon and just hiff three big tablespoons of that sweet sweet coffee into your coffee making device. I know you’re not a scientist, but that should be like 60-70grams. Easy so far.
4 - Chuck in some water - safely
Use scales if you can. Go on.
But see above.
So, luckily, your kettle probably has some markings on it. Chuck in a litre of water on top of your three tablespoons of coffee.
Give it a stir. Sit down and wait.
5 - Keep waiting - for like 8 minutes
Be patient here. You’re making coffee in a shoe. You need to give it time for the magic.
Good things take time.
6 - Pour into your cup. Drink like royalty.
Use a sieve if you can find one, it’ll make your life easier. If you can’t find on, just carefully pour it into your cup - and try not to get bits into your cup.
Easy as.
Magically, you’ve just make an immersion brew, with a ratio of 1:60-70 - the golden ratio. You’re now a proper specialty coffee enthusiast, without the specialty coffee expense.
7 - Wash out your boot before you wear it
Coffee soaked soaks are lame.
Merry Christmas!