Nothing like a good cup of coffee to start the day

By Rennie Phillips

There are some days when you get up and you just feel kind of blank or tired or don't want to do anything except have a cup of coffee. Some of you don't like coffee so I don't have a clue as to what you do. Maybe you head for a pop or soda.

I have these kind of days. I Woke up this morning and looked at the computer screen and was just about as blank as it was. I had made a cup of coffee from green coffee beans I'd roasted from Tanzania. And as I drank that first cup it kind of brought me awake. It might have been the caffeine. I'm not sure. About the only caffeine I do drink is in coffee. When I drink a soda or pop, it's either Diet Rite or root beer.

I'm not even sure when I first started drinking coffee. Growing up in Nebraska I remember dipping my cookies in Dad's coffee. Mom and Dad probably drank Folgers, but I"m not sure. Dad liked to put some real cow's cream and sugar in his coffee, so it tasted pretty good. Usually the cream was so thick you couldn't pour it, so he'd take a spoon or two of cream. Cookies dipped in it were really good. Thinking back on it I'll bet that coffee tasted kind of chunky down at the bottom of the cup. But knowing Dad he enjoyed us dipping our chocolate chip cookies in his coffee. Back when I was a senior in high school Dad had a heart attack, so the doctors told him to use Sanka coffee, I believe. Seems like it was an instant, caffeine-free coffee.

About 15 years ago or so I got to talking to my brother in Nebraska. Mick bought green coffee beans and roasted them in an old aluminum Whirly Pop popcorn roaster. He would put an old cast iron skillet on the stove and then set the popcorn roaster in the skillet. So the heat went from the skillet to the popcorn roaster, which roasted the coffee beans. It seemed like a really slow process to me. So I ordered a stainless steel Whirly Pop popcorn roaster from Sweet Maria's in California.

When I first started roasting coffee I probably burned up more green coffee beans then I roasted. But some turned out pretty good. I was hooked. So I'd check out the web site of Sweet Maria's and read about all these coffee beans from around the world -- Kenya, Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Tanzania, and the list went on and on. Many times after I roasted the green coffee beans they all kind of tasted the same. But I was learning.

What I found was that coffee beans from every region where coffee is grown has a distinct smell and taste. If the coffee is roasted right, then this distinct taste will come through in the coffee beans. If the coffee is roasted too much and gets too dark, then this distinct taste will be lost and the coffee will just taste burnt. Once the coffee is roasted too much there is no way of making the coffee taste good except by adding cream or sweeter or flavorings of some kind. After adding all kinds of extras, it doesn't matter how the coffee tasted in the beginning.

Coffee beans are grown mostly along the equator, with some of the best ones being grown at fairly high altitude. Some of the best coffee I've roasted and drank came from trees or bushes that were around 6,000 feet. That's way up there in the sky. Coffee can be grown at lower altitudes, but it just doesn't seem as good to me.

Once I have roasted my coffee, I give it a couple days to rest. Fresh roasted coffee gives off a gas, so resting it greatly improves the taste and the smell. One can make coffee out of it right from the roaster, but it's better if one waits. I grind my coffee as I make each cup. All I grind is enough coffee for the cup I'm making right then.

I also use a Clever Coffee Dripper like Cup 'n' Cork in Cape Girardeau or Ground-A-Bout in Jackson uses. Parengo Coffee in Sikeston, Missouri, uses a pour over dripper, so it's a little different. One can add or decrease the amount of the ground coffee to make the cup stronger or weaker. That is a personal choice.

The experts recommend about 200-degree water to brew coffee. The water I use is probably somewhere in between 195 to 212 degrees. I don't ever use a thermometer, so I'm just guessing. We heat our water in a plug-in warmer. It takes about 3 or 4 minutes to heat up a couple quarts of water. I wore one out, but the new one is faster. Marge drinks tea, so we both use this warmer.

I add a little creamer to my coffee. I can drink it plain but prefer a little creamer. I don't care for flavorings and such. Many like to add flavorings and such in their coffee, but I don't. I like just plain coffee.

I have my favorite cups as well. One is a garage-sale find from some Cafe Expresso coffee club. Nice cup. Another is a hand-thrown cup I bought at Cup 'n' Cork. I have one I bought from Orvis, but I don't care for how coffee tastes from that cup. It's probably in my head, but the coffee just doesn't taste the same. I've used my Yeti a few times, but it keeps the coffee so hot I can't drink it. It seems like it takes hours to cool down.

One of the best ways to check out coffee varieties is to go to coffee shops and sample. Ask questions. Ask where the beans are from. Ask how the beans were roasted: Light, medium or dark roast? Smell the beans and the ground coffee. Ask how they brew the coffee: pour over, clever dripper, percolator or some type of drip maker.

One other thing. Just because you like a good cup of coffee and don't like the fast-food chain coffees, don't be snooty about it. Now that I'm on my fourth cup of coffee I think I'm about ready for the day. Now to go check on the calves, my cats and the greenhouse and garden. Have a great day.