The Wampus Cat

So. I usually brew coffee in a Chemex, of Pittsfield, MA, that I picked up right down the street here in Hyde Park at the Freehling Pot & Pan Company. I think they’re quite beautiful. JPDM’s dad brews coffee in one, has for years, and now so does CJR. (You can buy them here.)

I found this great filtercone coffee brewer on Sweet Maria’s this morning. I’ve been buying things from Sweet Maria’s of Emeryville, California for years now. When it comes to coffee, they really know their stuff. They have all kinds of information on roasting, brewing, and drinking coffee (I myself only have experience with the latter two). Their site is a real goldmine. I have a filtercone coffee brewer too, they’re cheap and simple, and don’t generate much waste if you use a reusable filter. (The benefit of the one pictured above over mine is that you can hold the hot water in the filter with the grounds for the recommended 3-4 minutes, rather than just pouring it through. Better coffee that way.)

I picked up my coffee grinder from Sweet Maria’s a few years ago, the Solis Maestro Plus burr grinder. Solis is now selling them as Baratza’s, but they look just about the same. This is a tremendous grinder, I’ve never had a problem with it: perfect grinds for drip and french press, and the grinder itself feels very well constructed. Sweet Maria’s has them. [Solis photo from UltimateCoffee.net]

If I was in the market for a new grinder though, there’s no doubt in my mind it would look a lot like this. It’s a Zassenhaus hand-cranked burr grinder. No electricity required. J’s got one like this one, it’s great. (Again! Sweet Maria’s sells ‘em.)

The world of making coffee is huge, even before you get to espresso and home-roasting and the rest of it. I like simple drip coffee, but there’s something to be said for electric drip coffee. The best coffee I’ve ever had was made in Clover vacuum machines, there’s one such machine at Z&H in Kenwood (just north of Hyde Park on 47th Street) and a bunch at Intelligentsia (which used to be a Chicago thing but I now here is the place to go in Los Angeles). There are some vacuum coffee makers for your house, I’ve never tried them but they look great. And then, the new darling of coffee devices, the Aeropress. I’ve never used one of these either, but they’re supposed to be the most anything can turn coffee making on it’s head for about $20. Good coffee makes you happy. It’s not expensive to make, and it’s fun. Go buy some coffee and get to it!