Fresh Coffee for a New Generation

The thought of a good cup of coffee might take you back to Grandma’s kitchen, where she had a tin pot percolating on the stove all hours of the day. Maybe you remember her placing a steaming mug in Grandpa’s hands to warm him up when he came in from the cold. Or maybe you remember your mom folding a thin, paper filter into her pot, and filling it with store-bought ground coffee from a big can. Perhaps the enticing aroma was enough to get your dad up and out of the house, and off to work.

Mom and Grandma might have created pleasant memories with their old-fashioned percolators, but today’s coffee is fresher and richer than ever before. Today’s beans are grown with a blend of love, art, and science that delivers a variety of beans sure to please every current coffee drinker and produce many new ones. The U. S. imports coffee beans from such exotic locales as Guatemala, Peru, Africa, Tasmania, and the Jamaican Blue Mountains. They may ship fully roasted beans or the unroasted green coffee berries right off the coffee plant. Many local and national shops do their own roasting, enabling them to serve the finest coffee to area residents or visitors, and to quickly ship the freshest product right to any doorstep.

Consumers can order coffee pre-ground or, as is becoming more popular, grind whole beans at home. The less time ground coffee is exposed to air, the fresher and fuller it tastes, which is why more coffee lovers are choosing to grind beans at home just before brewing. Grinding coffee beans is easy and worth it. The three basic ways to grind coffee beans are coarse, medium, and fine. Coarsely ground coffee beans are what worked best for Grandma and her stove-top percolator. They’re also the best for brewing coffee in a French Press. Medium-ground beans are typically what you buy from a grocery store and are meant to be brewed in an automatic drip coffeemaker. Finely ground coffee is used when making espresso.

Grandma’s eggshell coffee might have pleased some of the coffee drinkers in her family, but today's variety of available coffee drinks offers something for every coffee drinker, even those who used to think all coffee was too bitter. (Incidentally, reducing bitterness is why Grandma put the eggshells in her pot.) Specialty hot coffee drinks include lattes, cappuccinos, and espressos. Lattes and cappuccinos are simply espresso made with added milk. Lattes are made with steamed milk, while cappuccinos are made with milk that has been frothed with a steam wand. Espresso is made from regular coffee beans or from especially dark roasts, but the beans are very finely ground. Espresso is made by shooting a burst of hot water, approximately 200 degrees Fahrenheit, through tightly compressed ground coffee for between 25 and 30 seconds. A cup of espresso measures only 1 ½ ounces and is served in tiny cups. (No eggshells allowed when making this intensely flavored cup of coffee!)

In addition to keeping people awake, today’s coffee drinks offer more than a way to warm up Grandpa’s hands after he’s shoveled the walk. Coffee shops all over the world offer a variety of cold coffee concoctions, too. Some of the more popular drinks include frappuccinos, granitas, ice cream blends, and simply iced coffee. A frappuccino is made with blended coffee, milk, and cream, whereas a granita is more of an iced and blended coffee snow cone. These refreshing summer coffees can be served with or without whipped cream, and can be made with soy, full-fat, or fat-free milk. Coffee lovers can add flavors like caramel, toffee, hazelnut, chocolate, and vanilla, and top their drinks with decadent chocolate shavings, cherries, or cookies.

Finding the perfect cup of coffee can be as easy as consulting your local barista, or as scientific as ordering and tasting a variety of roasts in your own home. Either way, take advantage of the wealth of grinders, pots, varietals, brews, blends, and coffee creations available today. You might find one just like Grandma used to make…or, perhaps, something even better.

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