How to make a decent cup of coffee

I love coffee, and I reserve the right to be picky about coffee. Generally, I think people should eat and drink joyfully and gratefully and NOT BE PICKY unless there is a health reason for it. I ascribe to this principle myself...except when it comes to coffee. In large part because I need a decent cup of very strong but milky coffee to get me going in the morning. Morning coffee should be so strong that it needs milk in order to be drinkable.

I like my coffee, my chocolate and my men dark, strong and rich! (OK, just kidding about the men. If a girl likes money, she should make it herself. Though I am partial to the brown-eyed ones).

Who are these people who drink Mountain Dew in the morning? (I know, some of you are my friends and I love you anyway) I begrudginly accept hot, milky tea as an acceptable substitute morning drink. But soda? No way. Coffee in bed is one of life's greatest luxuries. Somehow diet coke in bed just doesn't have the same cache. Having someone bring it to you in bed is one of the main reasons to learn to drink coffee!

My grandfather made a wickedly strong and very drinkable cup of coffee out of Folgers. The coffee doesn't have to be fancy...and it certainly should not be flavored...but it absolutely must be so dark that you cannot see through to the other side of the glass pot when you look through it. I love my family, but aside from my deceased grandfather, they make terrible coffee. What's worse is that they try to slip me half-caffienated!

The key to good coffee is that it should not look like brown water or tea. If it does, don't drink it. If you made it, start over. It should be so black that you cannot see through it. How do you make a perfect cup of coffee? Well, that depends but as a general rule, I use one generous scoop (it measures probably 2 teaspoons) of coffee beans per one cup on the side of the pot plus one extra scoop for good measure.

I am also on the look out for the best coffee beans I can find. So far my favorite is the Costa Rica blend from A Southern Season. Their Cooking School Blend is good too. The holiday blend didn't have legs to stand on. Not nearly strong enough. Each month they have a different one on sale for like $6.99/pound. It's a good deal for coffee beans. I try to pick up whatever the special of the month is as long as it smells fairly strong.

So on Saturday, sleep late and drink your coffee in bed w/ a good magazine or the newspaper. You deserve it!