#morningcoffeehaiku in New Kitchen

hard to choose a mug
at least the coffee's ready
cold press in the fridge
#morningcoffeehaiku

such perfect coffee
grateful for my new kitchen
Rosh Hashanah soon
#morningcoffeehaiku

strong sun defeats clouds
cold strong coffee wakes me up
Gd willing great day
#morningcoffeehaiku

love my new kitchen
enjoying the great upgrade
planning was fun, too
#morningcoffeehaiku

coffee wakes me up
sun still hidden by grey clouds
perked last night and chilled
#morningcoffeehaiku

early coffee, sigh
didn't sleep enough again
too much on my mind
#morningcoffeehaiku

another grey morn'
looks brighter with new cellphone
coffee cheers up day
#morningcoffeehaiku

morning sans smartphone
it died suddenly last night
still coffee sunshine
#morningcoffeehaiku

awfully early
didn't sleep enough last night
coffee to rescue
#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.

You Need Coffee #3, Ethiopian Gima

This post is the third and for the meantime final in the series of coffee reviews about You Need Coffee. From the size of the bulk of the impressive bag of Ethiopian Gima coffee, I was sure that I had bought quite a bit of it. A discernible aroma wafted out the minute I opened it, but so did the air. Yes, there was lots of air, too much packed together with the coffee.

Ethiopian Gima coffee served with milk and a bit of sugar

Finally, I realized why their, and other Israeli freshly ground coffee then stored for a few weeks or even days, tastes so disappointing. They make no real attempt to vacuum pack it. Other shops haven't a chance, since their bags are of cheaper materials. But You Need Coffee uses quality bags, and even if the sealing included very low-tech pressing to attempt "vacuum-pack" pushing out all the air possible, the coffee would keep fresh much longer. When I return to the shop, and I probably will some time after the Passover holiday, I will request better bag sealing.

In the meantime, I'll finish what I have and then perk simple Israeli Turkish coffee until after Passover. Gd willing I'll be getting some good American ground coffee from a friend. Then I'll even be able to "cold brew" coffee, though I do need a new French Press... but that's another story.

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