“1785 – a significant year for French balloonatics, it seems. January started well with the first successful flight across the channel“.
May, perhaps inevitably, brought the world’s first aviation disaster when a hydrogen filled balloon crashed in Ireland at Tullamore, burning down one hundred houses but, luckily, missing the Whiskey distillery – albeit by 44 years. June gave us the world’s first aviation fatalities, another French balloon conflagration, no doubt spawning that very 20th century phobia, Fear of Flying. But what’s all this got to do with coffee..?
An Airbus piloting friend recently sent me an article from The Times in which Janice Turner ran through several methods of making coffee only to come to the conclusion that an automatic push button machine was the best and simplest solution.
Cafetière: too accident prone.
Stove Top: despite the whole of Italy waking up to them, too harsh.
Aeropress: too weak. Nespresso: too wasteful (hurray on that one at least).
It looks to me as though she’s never been taught the magic recipe for making coffee at home. I’m going to stick with our French theme and concentrate on the Cafetière, or French Press if you’re from across the pond. It’s by far the most common method of making proper coffee at home, one of the cheapest and, best of all, we’ve pretty well all got one. Trouble is it’s also the cause of huge coffee confusion, directly responsible for so many people giving up. Nespresso have amassed their fortune out of it! So, dig your pot out of the cupboard, blow the dust off, find a calculator, some digital kitchen scales and get ready to learn, at last, how to use the damn thing.
Firstly, you need medium – coarse, freshly ground coffee. Any coffee will do as the Cafetière works with them all. Too fine a grind and you’ll not be able to plunge. If you succeed it may mean you’ve either blown the bottom out or plastered yourself with a coffee geyser as befell our unfortunate Times correspondent.
RATIO : 18g Hot Water : 1g Coffee
- Choose and preheat the size of Cafetière to suit the number of cups you want to brew.
- Place the Cafetière on the scales, and tare.
- Weigh in ground coffee following the ratio suggested above. As a guide, if using, a level coffee scoop holds c.7-8g.
- Ensuring the hot water is off the boil at approx. temperature of 90-94°C / 195-200F, pour over the ground coffee.
- Stir the coffee a couple of times to combine, and leave to brew for 3-4 minutes, then gently stir the surface again.
- Place the plunger and lid on the pot, and slowly press down, collecting the coffee grounds as you go.
The great thing is that once you’re making your coffee consistently you’ll be able to taste all the different coffees of the world and be amazed at how much variation there is. Bright, light Ethiopians versus heavy Sumatrans. Juicy Kenyans versus dark, roasty Espresso blends, the world’s your oyster and you’ll have taken back control!
Roasters Choice Tasting Box
The only machine I suggest you ever need buy is a decent grinder. Cost generally equals quality of results so invest wisely. There are even some brilliant Japanese hand grinders for twenty quid or so if you only ever make one cup at a time. Rest assured that whatever you buy will cost but a fraction of an automatic machine, not to mention rescue you from the horrendous cost of capsules.
So, if your one of our local followers – next time you spot a hot air balloon pumping up on one side of Sherborne’s Terraces, maybe catching a whiff of roasting beans from the other, remember the point in 1785, grab your Cafetière, and go make yourself a decent brew!
