Another Mug of #morningcoffeehaiku

I've been haikuing most mornings for quite awhile now as #morningcoffeehaiku. Please join if you wish. And following are some recent ones:

made coffee too strong
hope it wakes me up real well
really must hydrate
#morningcoffeehaiku

shiny new French Press
unbreakable finally
dawn of great new age
#morningcoffeehaiku

need that perked coffee
must get more get up and go
sleep's never enough
#morningcoffeehaiku

slept but much too tired
sun and coffee very strong
exciting day planned
#morningcoffeehaiku

Coffee, wake me up!
Rosh Chodesh Women's Prayer Group
summer coming soon
#morningcoffeehaiku

need lots of coffee
very strong to wake me up
coffee's a winner
#morningcoffeehaiku

finally Friday
filtered coffee, sunny day
need my Shabbat rest
#morningcoffeehaiku

Summer really here?
enough winter already
still drink coffee hot
#morningcoffeehaiku

yellow windy morn
not a poet's "spring" vision
really need coffee
#morningcoffeehaiku

always need coffee
even when up before ring
revs up the engine
#morningcoffeehaiku

sun peeking through clouds
strong coffee perking on stove
ten lives lost in flood
#morningcoffeehaiku
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/245027

super sunny morn
drinking super strong coffee
super busy day
#morningcoffeehaiku

Water then coffee
Quiet in Jerusalem
Later the siren
#morningcoffeehaiku

up before alarm
cheerful glorious sunrise
now for my coffee
#morningcoffeehaiku

Sparkling New French Press!

Reflecting on my new French Press, because unlike the others, which were mostly glass and one small plastic one, this new one is stainless steel, yes, UNBREAKABLE. 

Over the years, ole Murphy's Law seems to have a special category for French Presses, which generally have a glass carafe. The more you like that French Press, the better the plunger/filter and more suitable its size, the more quickly the carafe will shatter.

After my 1.5 liter French Press, with the fantastically made plunger/filter shattered, my fault entirely, I pulled out the too small "6 cup" with the awful bent plunger/filter that always allowed coffee grounds to invade my mugs and spoil my mornings. I had no choice. Around once a week, I'd perk Israeli Elite Turkish coffee in my classic stove-top stainless steel peculator.

Rumor got to me that it's possible to buy an unbreakable stainless steel French Press. I asked in some Israeli stores, but nobody sold them. So I went "modern" and checked on the internet. I found a few on Amazon, but I don't buy online.

Now that I had a solution, I patiently awaited my savior. My good friend who has been supplying me with American coffee has an Amazon account. She finally came for a visit.  We put in the order, and I paid her to cover costs. At first we were going to have it delivered to one of my Jerusalem kids, but that would double the price. Instead it was delivered to her home, and last week I was able to pick it up in Jerusalem.

This morning I had my first coffee from my new AMORA stainless steel French Press! What a pleasure to use. And the coffee was great. It'll be such a relief not to worry about breaking, thank Gd.

Making Do After Breaking French Press

It was obvious to me that it was going to happen, inevitable for sure. It was always more an issue of when, than will. Yes, I broke the carafe/bowl/pot or whatever you want to call that glass part of my French Press. Kappora...

Davka, I had just bought a new stock of ground coffee to be made in the French Press. Of course, I could perk it in the percolator... But I decided on an experiment using coffee-making accessories I have sitting in the closet.

I decided to use the same principles as in the French Press, leaving the ground coffee to combine with boiling water and then filter it before it hits the mug. As you can see in the photos illustrating my morning coffee today, I used an old heat-resistant carafe/bowl/pot from a long dead and mourned electric coffeemaker. The filter was the simple, low-tech one I bought a few years ago in New York.

If you like really hot coffee, this isn't for you, but I don't have such a requirement. And coffee never comes out super hot from a French Press.

The only real change I'd make would be to add more ground coffee; I'm still experimenting with the actual coffee taste. I don't know how they roast/prepare the beans for commercial ground coffee in the states, but there's lots more flavor.

In conclusion, this is a reasonable solution to my morning coffee needs. And happily I had all of the equipment in the house. I do have a small, one cup French Press, too. But when do I ever drink just one small cup of coffee?

old parts new coffeetemporary replacementsmorning coffee "chai"#morningcoffeehaiku

Haikuing About Morning Coffee

Most days I still manage a haiku about my morning coffee. If you're on facebook, you can join the conversation and even reply in haiku form, 5, 7, 5 syllables.

#morningcoffeehaiku

 Here are a vew of my recent ones plus photos.

Mah tovu, How good
Modah ani, Thanking Gd
sunrise and coffee
#morningcoffeehaiku

sun shining brightly
no more daylight savings time
strong, sparkling coffee
#morningcoffeehaiku

Spent Shabbat at friends,
Was great, but only instant;
French Press tomorrow!

Like

 · Reply · Message · 

1

 · 3 hrs

Manage

Morningcoffeehaiku Shabbat just instant
forbidden to use French Press
Can brew in advance

very tired today
lots of exciting things to do
coffee to rescue
#morningcofffeehaiku

Pretty coffee cup
Last night enjoyed museum
In Jerusalem
#morningcoffeehaiku

sunrise and coffee
starting the day with a smile
lots of fun things planned
#morningcoffeehaiku

Not buying soy milk
tasted awful in coffee
had to add sugar
#morningcoffeehaiku

Chodesh Tov, Dear World
Cheshvan begins the winter
dark sky strong coffee
#morningcoffeehaiku

coffee, cup by cup
simple filter always works
even before dawn
#morningcoffeehaiku

coffee with goat milk
I may try some with sugar
hot coffee, bright sun
#morningcoffeehaiku

sunshine and coffee
but tomorrow maybe rain
thankful for each drop
#morningcoffeehaiku

super busy day
fueling it with strong coffee
looking forward, smile
#morningcoffeehaiku

Enjoy!

Summer! Cold Brew Coffee, Homemade

Last summer I discovered a new coffee taste and brewing method, Cold Brew. It's so easy, as long as you remember to prepare in advance, and the flavor is super fantastic.

• Just add water to the coffee in your French Press, or jar if you have a filter you can use. 
• Give it a stir.
• Then cover and put in fridge overnight or for a few hours until it brews and chills.
• Before drinking, give it a good stir.
• Press the plunger or filter it.
• Enjoy!

Coffee Report, The Dregs

www.coffeeble.com
just like mine

As promised, this is a report about the ground coffee I bought in Jerusalem to use in my new, humongous French Press which has an excellent filter/plunger. If you remember, I felt the ground coffee after it was put in the bag and complained about the powdery feel. The commercial American ground coffee has larger granules and no powder.

My coffee-making experiments have taught me that the finer the coffee is ground the less suitable it is for a French Press, since it clogs up the filter. The powder, like Turkish coffee, is fine in the percolator, though and can also be used with the simple low-tech super-fine filter, which makes amazingly good coffee regardless of the type/quality.  The filter is also easy to travel with if you need to make your own coffee and don't want instant. I, davka, did that yesterday.


The Bashkovitz coffee didn't clog the filter, thank Gd, though it did leave some sludgy dregs aka mud on the bottom of the cup, which doesn't happen with American commercial coffee. No doubt they filter the powder out from the larger granules before packaging. The Kenyan beans didn't give the taste/flavor I like, but there were many others to choose from for next time I have to buy ground coffee in Israel. I'll probably also try a different store. Recommendations are welcome, thanks.

In the meantime, enjoy your coffee, however you prepare it.

More Israeli Coffee "Experiments"

After reading of my great disappointment in the coffee I had bought a few weeks ago in Machane Yehuda, somebody bought me ground coffee in a different store there. According to her, it had been ground specifically for a French Press, which is the coarsest the grinders can do.

It smelled good, so I was very optimistic about having a nice strong cup of coffee. But when I opened the package, I saw that it was much too powdery for my French Press plunger/filter. But a gift is a gift, and I wanted to see how much a coffee maven I really am.

I'm not quite sure how to pronounce the name of the store, but it's something like Bashkowitz, 32 Eitz Chaim Street, Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem.

Since the coffee had been bought for use in a French Press, that's what I tried first:

I was disappointed in the taste of the coffee, which was very similar to the inexpensive Elite Turkish I can buy anyplace. That's my default coffee, which I perk, or sometimes filter, when I don't have any other coffee.  And even though the plunger didn't get stuck as it would with the Turkish, I still had "mud" on the bottom of my mug, which is a characteristic of Turkish coffee. It doesn't happen when the coffee beans are ground coarsely enough.

Today I decided to try it with my low-tech coffee filter. That is fine enough even to keep Turkish coffee out of the mug.

With the filter, I use two mugs, so the second can get more coffee dripping, while I'm drinking from the first and visa-versa if I'm having a lot of coffee.

For some strange reason, this coffee didn't filter all that well. I even had to "jiggle" the filter parts for all of the water to go down. That's a sign that the coffee is too powdery.

And as you can see from the photo on the bottom, the coffee is pretty weak. Considering that these experiments were done just before Yom Kippur, and many people advise to cut down on coffee/caffeine before a 25 hour fast, I didn't mind all that much that I was drinking weak, wimpy coffee.

I'll perk what's left after the fast. My percolator has been pretty good at getting the best out of pretty much any coffee, as long as it's real coffee...

Tzom Kal, have an easy fast if you're fasting this Yom Kippur.

Back to Perking the Coffee

On Friday when about to put the French Press away after washing I noticed a line/crack, so it got dumped. I didn't want it to shatter just as the coffee was ready or the hot water poured in. Luckily I have a percolator large enough for my two giant morning mugs.

And Folgers Columbian is good perked. It's a nice strong coffee. I bought a humongous container of it when I was last in New York (in March.) It should last me a good while. I keep it in the fridge.

I still have a small French Press and a small cup-sized filter I can use. But since I start my day with two giant cups/mugs of water and then the same amount of coffee, with milk and sugar, it's nice to have the same, the rightsized coffee-making accessories.