The Things You Learn As You Research
As I researched for a short story on just how expensive coffee makers could get, I stumbled onto this tidbit...
courtesy of Whole Lotta Latte Love
Coffee making is a process that has been around for centuries, but the methods used have changed quite a bit throughout that time. Originally, coffee grounds were simply mixed with boiling water, producing what is commonly called Turkish coffee. The result was a burnt, muddy, and grainy drink that left a bad taste (literally and figuratively) in most coffee drinker's mouths.
Many people started pouring their coffee through linen and other fabrics to try to filter out the grit, but cloth proved to be too porous. The 19th century brought us both the French press and the vacuum pot. Both made a significant improvement in the quality and consistency of coffee, but at that time they still lacked an effective filtering method.
In 1908, a German housewife named Melitta Bentz had the bright idea to use paper in an effort to remove the loose grounds, and drip coffee was born.
http://www.wholelattelove.com/buyingguide.cfm?buyingguideID=32
My parents had one of those hourglass shaped Melita's before Mr. Coffee became the then, common household coffee maker. But as we would do a light reheat of the last cup, we always managed to crack them as the glass carafes were meant to withstand internal brewing only and not meant to be heated externally.
I know most of you kids can't remember percolators, but if there were ever a so-called "modern" convenience that could've been substituted by one of those dino-bird appliances of the Flintstones, percolators were just that. Or maybe they would've used the miniature mastodons? At any rate, percolators burned the taste right out of the coffee...pretty much no matter what you did.
Some people would add salt or sugar, but you would just have salty swill or sweet swill. In the case of the latter, you're better off just boiling the grounds which would the traditional "Turkish" or "Arabic" method where they just add cups of sugar. Not only do the grinds catch in your throat, you're wired up like a rat that has accidentally eaten its way through a case of Columbian "foot powder."
What the Melita did for coffee was nothing short of phenomenal and it was the best thing short of a machine from Italy or one the old Italian double-pot percolators that didn't kill the flavor because they didn't burn or boil your java into fireplace swill. This was the other exception...
http://www.ineedcoffee.com/03/mokaexpress/?page=2
The Bialetta Moka Express or the "#1 Italian man pot." The little Bialetti Mascot, a mustachioed man with his index finger pointed upward as a declaration of the best maker and dollar for dollar, lira per lira, it was. Someone always placed it by their kitchen window when you came over to their house and it signified that they had taste...in coffee at least.
courtesy of Whole Lotta Latte Love
Coffee making is a process that has been around for centuries, but the methods used have changed quite a bit throughout that time. Originally, coffee grounds were simply mixed with boiling water, producing what is commonly called Turkish coffee. The result was a burnt, muddy, and grainy drink that left a bad taste (literally and figuratively) in most coffee drinker's mouths.
Many people started pouring their coffee through linen and other fabrics to try to filter out the grit, but cloth proved to be too porous. The 19th century brought us both the French press and the vacuum pot. Both made a significant improvement in the quality and consistency of coffee, but at that time they still lacked an effective filtering method.
In 1908, a German housewife named Melitta Bentz had the bright idea to use paper in an effort to remove the loose grounds, and drip coffee was born.
http://www.wholelattelove.com/buyingguide.cfm?buyingguideID=32
My parents had one of those hourglass shaped Melita's before Mr. Coffee became the then, common household coffee maker. But as we would do a light reheat of the last cup, we always managed to crack them as the glass carafes were meant to withstand internal brewing only and not meant to be heated externally.
I know most of you kids can't remember percolators, but if there were ever a so-called "modern" convenience that could've been substituted by one of those dino-bird appliances of the Flintstones, percolators were just that. Or maybe they would've used the miniature mastodons? At any rate, percolators burned the taste right out of the coffee...pretty much no matter what you did.
Some people would add salt or sugar, but you would just have salty swill or sweet swill. In the case of the latter, you're better off just boiling the grounds which would the traditional "Turkish" or "Arabic" method where they just add cups of sugar. Not only do the grinds catch in your throat, you're wired up like a rat that has accidentally eaten its way through a case of Columbian "foot powder."
What the Melita did for coffee was nothing short of phenomenal and it was the best thing short of a machine from Italy or one the old Italian double-pot percolators that didn't kill the flavor because they didn't burn or boil your java into fireplace swill. This was the other exception...
http://www.ineedcoffee.com/03/mokaexpress/?page=2
The Bialetta Moka Express or the "#1 Italian man pot." The little Bialetti Mascot, a mustachioed man with his index finger pointed upward as a declaration of the best maker and dollar for dollar, lira per lira, it was. Someone always placed it by their kitchen window when you came over to their house and it signified that they had taste...in coffee at least.
posted by Writeprocrastinator at 2:54 AM
7 Comments:
So how do you brew your morning cup? I'm a French press girl ... or a Starbucks customer.
Beth,
This will curl your hair three times as much as your avatar, I've been stuck in instant land. I work the grave yard shift, so I just make coffee for me and all the good coffee shops are closed by the time I'm ready for my first cup.
Otherwise, Starbucks if there are absolutely no local stores available whenever the coffee Jones strikes me. I think the notion of Bialetta is not just waxing nostalgic and I might just get one next payday.
I am a huge percolator queen. I own a 1960s percolator that I got for 5 bucks at a garage sale and it makes the best damn coffee on the planet!!!
love the glimpse into coffee's history. so funny.
The french press and the Bialetta make the best coffee, as far as coffee coffee goes. The. Best.
Katie,
"I am a huge percolator queen. I own a 1960s percolator that I got for 5 bucks at a garage sale and it makes the best damn coffee on the planet!!!"
How did you tame this antiquated machine? How do you get it to yield something that resembles coffee? Inquiring minds want to know.
Hoochie,
This is what amazes me, most Americans will make do with McDonald's or some such mediocre restaurant, but they know their coffee. Even 7-11 has stepped it up and they serve something that could be considered okay in a pinch.
Perhaps Rachael Ray is just brewing herself cups of Turkish coffee before she goes on camera, not freebasing behind her 1950's kitchen set like I had assumed previously.
"Perhaps Rachael Ray is just brewing herself cups of Turkish coffee before she goes on camera, not freebasing behind her 1950's kitchen set like I had assumed previously."
ITSW,
Heh-heh-heh, nah, she's just "naturally" perky!
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