March 30, 2017 – The tale of techniques

How this all started.

        Last fall when I poured a cup of coffee one morning and I thought it tasted like weak dishwater, I opened the cabinet door, fished out an individual packet of instant coffee, snipped off the top and stirred it into my already poured cup of coffee.  I tasted it and sighed, “AHHH”

        The darling husband happened to notice this action and made a snide remark, “I can never make you happy!”

       

        “It was weak . . .” I declared as I went past him and back to my bedroom to curl up and watch the early morning news.

        The next morning I did the same thing.  The coffee was weak and he remarked, “I put 8 scoops in that 12 cup pot.”  My husband’s indignant reaction was much the same as mine.  My big brown eyes flashed at him and were met by his steely hazel eyes that peered over the brim of his newspaper.  I thought, ‘his level scoops compared to my heaping scoops were the real issue behind this.’  I beat a fast track back to my early morning news nest.

        My husband does the majority of the grocery shopping.  He took that over when I was scrambling for extra time to make St. John Title Company profitable and he hasn’t relinquished it.  It is always amusing to me when he asks “What’s for dinner?”

        “I don’t know, what did you buy,” is always my power-play answer.

        The next morning he delivered me a cup of coffee in bed. [He does this often – it is nice being treated like a Queen.]    I took one sip and my eyes popped open.  I said nothing but thought, ‘What, Expresso? It was time for me to DO something about the coffee situation.’

        I immediately went shopping for coffee and as I looked up and down the aisle I realized my husband had gone through them all; Folgers, Maxwell House, Chock full O’Nuts, etc., whatever ground coffee was on sale for that week he bought it.   I felt we needed to switch to fresh ground beans so I grabbed the “Buy 1 Get 1 Free” Eight O’Clock coffee.  I came home and rummaged in the cabinet for our coffee grinder.  It was about 20 years old and worn and had a cracked cover.  I had forgotten its little motor sounded tired, but I left it out on the counter as a big hint for Mr.-coffee-maker husband.

        That was December and it gave me a great gift idea.  After about 4 stores I found a new coffee grinder – stainless steel.   I wrapped that up with two more bags of bean coffee and then my dear brother’s Christmas box arrived and he had sent me two bags of Dunkin Donut bean coffee – a nice treat.

The tale of techniques.

        Coffee improved for the next few months.  Then, my husband had a few bad days and I had to be up early before him to make coffee, feed the birds, cat and dog which is his early morning routine. 

I finally got to use the new grinder and it is very efficient.  I mentally counted the seconds for the grind, but the sound alone told me it was actually done. I dumped the grounds out on a paper plate and gently folded the plate into a funnel and poured the grinds into the cute little square jar with the green lid that my husband had been utilizing.  [It holds about 12 scoops of ground coffee.] I snapped the paper plate in the sink to remove any excess grounds and popped it back on the pile in the cabinet. 

I scooped out 8 HEAPING scoops of coffee into the filter and filled the tank with water to the 12 cup line.   AHHH – robust, grown-hair-on-your-chest coffee the exact way I like it.

A few days later, he again took over the coffee making duties and I watched as he was grinding the coffee one evening for the next morning.

He poured beans into the stainless steel grinder, put the cover on and lifted his left wrist [which caught my attention] and timed the grind. [That is because he can’t hear when the beans have ground – that is how deaf he really is.] Or, maybe he is being “precise” about the timing of the grind. Then, surprisingly he took the coffee scoop and scooped the ‘grind’ into the little square jar. It seemed like endless scooping to me and when he got to the bottom where the grind wheel is, he knocked it gently and tapped the grinding bowl gingerly above the 1 ½ inch diameter of the jar neck spilling coffee grounds on the counter top.

So, that is why I find so many coffee grounds on the countertop I say to myself.

Do I share my technique of the folded paper plate to save him all his trouble?

No.  I’ll tell you why tomorrow.