Sunday coffee is great

One advantage of having coffee only twice a week is that you really enjoy the taste and are conscious of it. Another advantage is that I believe the infrequency will forestall physical addiction.

I have mastered the Clever Coffee dripper method — update 2023-02-21: The instructions below, even though I found them on the internet, are ludicrously misguided. Corrections in [square brackets].

1. Fold over the crimped part of the paper filter, put it into the dripper, and rinse with hot water (to remove filter taste). I use unbleached filters.
2. Put a rounded quarter-cup of coffee grounds (for 16 oz water) into the filter. (see update below) [I now buy unground coffee beans; I weigh out 29g and put the beans into my Cuisinart Spice & Herb grinder and grind until the grind is fine. The grind is not perfectly even, but overall fine works well.]
3. Heat water to around 200ºF, start the timer and pour in just enough to thoroughly wet the grounds. Wait while they absorb water and expand. [This is totally misguided: pouring a little water on the grounds and letting them expand is done for pour-over coffee, not steeped coffee. I fell for the idea because it was familiar from when I used a Chemex pour-over coffee maker. And the low-temperature water produces a weak brew. I now bring water to the boil, remove the kettle and wait until the active boiling stops, then just pour all the water over the grounds and start the timer.]
4. At 30 seconds, pour in the rest of the water and put the cover on the dripper. [This step is gone — I have already poured all the water over the grounds.]
5. At 2 minutes, stir the coffee gently so the crust of floating grounds sinks into the coffee.
6. At 3 minutes 30 seconds, put the filter on my Joveo Temperfect mug and go start eating my breakfast pudding.
7. At about halfway through my breakfast, go dump the filter and grounds into the trash and return with coffee to enjoy.

I recall some years ago some guy — and I presume a young guy — asked, “Why do people like coffee? It’s so acid and bitter and awful tasting!” I responded that his question was similar to people asking, “Why do people like milk? It has such a foul smell and tastes awful and has lumps in it!” The problem wasn’t coffee per se, it was the cup of (bad) coffee he was drinking.

My coffee this morning is wonderful, and on Wednesday I’m going to get a fresh pound of coffee at Fantastico. Maybe someday I’ll get another good burr grinder so I buy whole beans and grind them just before I brew the coffee (though god knows where I’d put another appliance).

— Wait! A manual burr grinder! Of course! I already have one, in fact, but it’s dedicated to use as a pepper grinder. I could get another for coffee beans.

Update: Manual grinder ordered — Hario Skerton Pro. Each Sunday and Wednesday I will weigh out 27.9g of beans and grind them for my coffee. update 2023-02-21: the Skerton is too hard to use and too slow. I am now using my Cuisinart Spice & Herb grinder.

Update 2: Better coffee calculator.