The Perfect Pot of Coffee

Do you measure your coffee before you grind it? What about after? Do you buy pre-ground? Fair-trade?

Ps. if you don't buy fair-trade coffee, don't even try to justify it. You're a bad person...or at least an ignorant jerk. Straight up. So start buying fair-trade if you aren't already and regain some of the respect you've lost from those who know you don't buy fair-trade coffee... It's not like buying a shirt from a store that says "Made in China", when all the other shirts in all the other stores say "Made in China" and you can't find any alternative except maybe "Made in Indonesia". Fair-trade coffee is readily available everywhere and not that much more expensive than the stuff that isn't fair-trade. Just sayin'....

*Ahem* ANYWAYS

Coffee. The perfect pot of coffee. The perfect cup of coffee. Coffee can be such a personal thing. I discovered that when I stopped putting sugar in my coffee and used a lower fat content milk, I lost a little extra from around the middle (who would have thought?) but does my coffee really do it for me like it did before?? Nope. Do I still enjoy it? Sure.

Here's why:

a) Good coffee. I really like Level Ground Trading Company coffees, but right now since we just came back from Hawaii, 100% French Roast Kona coffee is what we're rocking. It's nice. I think good coffee needs less sweetener than cheap coffee. Sometimes no added sweetener is needed. Just a dash of cinnamon. Nom.

b) Water to coffee ratio. Do you make weak coffee? Don't give me any if you do. I won't like it. I like my coffee like I like my man: STRONG, YO!

c) Good quality reduced fat milk and I'm not talking "skim". Skim milk? Why bother? Coffee cream is typically either 10% or 18% milk fat. For real. So if you're like me and like a lot of milk, that's a lot of fat. Homogenized milk is only 3.25% milk fat. Just enough to still taste creamy but not so much that you have to feel bad for putting it in your coffee every morning. Sweet deal.

d) Sweetener. Splenda and I have a love/hate relationship. It's man made. Ick....but calorie free! Yay! I also, however, have a love/hate relationship with sugar because sugar is in EVERYTHING. It's even already in your milk (oh hey there, lactose, what's up?) so it seems unfortunate to add sugar to something that didn't have it already and doesn't necessarily need it. (Holla cinnamon!)

Now I'm going to throw out some info that I learned on Oprah:

excess sugar in the blood begins to cut into the veins and as these cuts heal, they create scars which produce hardening of the arteries.

Not so sweet.

Happy alternative that is not calorie free, but not a man made concoction of chemicals: honey. And obviously take this sugar cutting your veins-info with a grain of salt (HA!) because everything in moderation right? It's a teaspoon of sugar, you're not going to have a stroke.

e) Brewing method. French press or regular drip coffee? For me, drip unless it's a special occasion. I need my coffee to be completely ready by 7:15am. I start brewing at 7:00am. I don't have time to boil water, stir it, stir it, stir it, wait and then press.

Hmmm am I missing anything? Suggestions? Weird things you do to your coffee? Please share!

Anyway, my coffee is done brewing now.