Coffee the Right Way

Many years ago I wanted the caffeine and not the taste and I loaded up my coffee with white stuff, honey, you name it. I shook cinnamon on it. Stale cinnamon, even. I knew some things about coffee (hazelnut is not a flavor for coffee) but didn't know much.

As some of my friends grew older they learned about wines. Everything I know about wine I knew in my early 20s. As I got older I learned about coffee. Most of all, I learned that I really want it one way:

Indonesian grown, preferably Sumatran (shade grown and organic, of course)
Dark roasted (but not burnt)
Drip (don't let the water get too cold)

Yet, on Lopez I only had my old stove-top espresso maker. I tried to get by, really I did. Often dad shared a cup of his coffee (not Indonesian but otherwise perfect), or I went to Isabel's, a coffee shop in town (I like the windows and good tables for sitting to work at). Finally I broke down and asked my Facebook friends what coffee maker to buy.

Thanks be that certain wise people (Jenny! Tommy!) said Aeropress.

My Aeropress has a stainless steel filter (nothing to throw away except spent beans), it tastes a million times better than a French Press (that's a totally different process of making coffee), and it makes a double sized cup so I can share with a friend, or have enough caffeine to keep me going all day. Here's a photo I took. Note that the jar catches the drip coffee, that the press part suctions to the side of the maker (I will use the press after I've added more water to drip through my two cups), and that I have the super cool "cuppow" as a screw on sippy cup lid that works with my wide mouth canning jar (they also have regular mouth cuppow).  Oh, and the Aeropress is tiny, I can take it anywhere and it cost less than all but the cheapest coffee makers!