Woahhh Coffee (Day 14)

So I just subscribed myself to this bi-weekly coffee parcel service.  Basically they get the beans, roast them one day, ship them the next, and then they’re at your door.  They flat pack it so it fits right through your door with the rest of your mail!

I followed their brew guide for my French press, and at first I was a little skeptical.  They said to use 1 tbsp of grounds per person, and measure water by the mugful.  I know my inner engineer wants to get a digital scale so I can precisely measure everything, but this will do for now.

I boiled the water and waited the requisite 1 minute to let it cool down from boiling temperature.  I dumped in a heaping tbsp of grinds, and poured in the water.  The first thing that surprised me was the lack of floating grinds – normally when I buy pre-ground coffee (I know, blasphemy) or use a (plebian) blade grinder, I end up with a load of floating debris in my French press.  This time, the company obviously used a nice burr grinder to get an evenly coarse grind, and there was no debris floating in the foam.  I was a bit worried because the brew was a lot more clear than I was used to, like a pale brown.

I let it sit for the 4 minute brewing time, then plunged and poured.  The resulting coffee was heavenly.  Smooth, no bitterness, and slight sweetness even when black.  Not syrupy like espresso, but nice.  When I added a bit of cream and sugar, the malted milk notes that were indicated on the bag really came out and I was surprised how distinct the flavour was.  It also reminded me of an Ovaltine flavour, which was incredible at breakfast time.

I’m looking forward to tweaking the amount of grounds and brew time and seeing what happens!  And also experimenting with their selection of coffees… mmm.

Everyone needs a vice, right?