Middle Aged and Living Well

Coffee found me late in life.  Growing up, my parent’s drank coffee (only if you call freeze dried instant, coffee), but having only a few sips of the bitter brew, I had no desire to drink it on a regular basis.  I got through college and the early part of my career without having to start the day with a cup or two.  It wasn’t till I started riding bikes with some gentleman every Sunday, that peer pressure got me drinking coffee.  Adding the right amount of sugar got me past the bitterness of most brewed coffees.  I am sure cream would also help, but I was trying to avoid fat (very 1990′s thinking).  So I did what most Americans do, and I got a coffee pot with a timer so that the brewed coffee would be waiting for me instead of the other way around.  That lasted for several years until a trip to London in 2004.  The flat we rented only had a hot water kettle and a french press.  After learning the correct proportions, I was able to make a mean cup of American coffee using a french press.  The french press method keeps the essential oils in the brew and the taste and the mouth feel of a cup brewed by this method is second to none.  Returning home, my coffee pot got replaced with a french press, and that became my morning ritual.

When I decided to lose weight, one thing I stopped doing early on was adding sugar to my coffee.  It was hard a first, but after a week or two, I did not miss it and a magical thing happened.  The true flavor of the coffee came out since it was not masked with any sweets or fats.  Now, with unmasked flavors, and a pure brewing method, I now concentrated on the quality of the coffee bean.  I was already grinding my own beans as the french press needs a course grind, but I tried all different types of roasted beans.  I quickly learned what mattered; where the bean was grown, the darkness of the roast and probably the most important, the freshness of the bean.  I quickly learned:

• I didn’t care for the dark roasted beans.  The dark roast beans impart a bitter, almost burnt flavor.  This is the roast mostly used by Starbucks.  I think they purposely use a dark roast because they go very well with the cream, sugar and flavorings that pair well and allow them to sell more expensive drinks.  I prefer a more floral medium roast, which are harder to find in stores.
• I learned I like beans from Brazil, Hawaii, Costa Rica and Panama.  These beans balance flavor, acidity, aroma and sweetness.  I don’t like beans from Africa and Indonesia which are earthy.  The difficulty is most bagged beans don’t have their origin, or they are a blend of beans.  Finding the beans you like is difficult.
• Its hard to get a fresh roasted bean from any standard coffee or grocery store.  Many roasted beans are sealed in a special bag and the first set of beans you get out of the bag are great, but by buying a pound at at time, the beans lose flavor quickly.

Thanks to two friends, I was introduced to home roasting of beans.  Now with a home coffee roaster and plenty of sources for green coffee beans, which you can buy in bulk as they do not lose flavor, I can control where my beans come from, get the type of roast I like and most importantly my roasted coffee beans are the freshest around.  I roast beans about every four days.  Lets see you get beans that fresh at Starbucks.

So learn to enjoy your coffee, by following these steps.  These steps dont have to be done all at once, in fact do one step for a period of time before moving on,  so take your time.  Once you hit the final step, you will be close to the perfect cup of American coffee to pair with your breakfast.

1. Grind your own beans
2. Stop using your drip coffee maker and buy a french press
3. Stop using cream and sugar
4. Roast your own beans

How do you like your coffee?