Celebrity Rumors

Alas there is an answer for the stay at home blogger. Make infused coffee from less than fancy gourmet ingredients. Start with a coffee that is drinkable. It doesn’t have to be the best, just good enough. I use the Kroger brand breakfast blend, which is a light roast meaning it has the most caffeine for the money.

Any old drip coffee maker will work. I have terribly hard water in my town so I buy the cheapest one possible since I will have to replace it before very long. In fact, I am not above using the 90 day return policy to exchange my coffee maker if it is clogged in that time period. The policy says any reason and stopped brewing is the best reason in the world.

To make exceptional coffee you need to start thinking about what you want to add to it to make it better. I use three main additions, but not always together. Cinnamon is my favorite and is almost always in my coffee.

Black Pepper and Cocoa are also on my ingredient list. Just because it is in your spice rack doesn’t mean it is good for coffee though. I’ve used clove, nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, and star anise, and orange zest with pretty good results, but there is a lot trial and error here. Spice blends like pumpkin/apple pie spice or Chinese five spice also are pretty good.

Besides the coffee maker there are a few other tools you will want to consider. A mortar and pestle are a good addition to any kitchen and I use then for bashing the pepper corns into a rough grind. A Microplane grater, available on ebay, hardware or your better kitchen stores are also wonderful tools and there is nothing better for grating cinnamon sticks or whole nutmeg.

Put you grounds in the basket first. This is probably the step most people get wrong when making coffee at home. They either use too many ground or not enough and simply think it is bad coffee, rather than poor preparation. For me I think four regular coffee scoops is about right. Then comes the additions. I start with heaviest ingredients, fresh ground cinnamon followed by ground pepper then cocoa or what ever else strikes my fancy.

Push the button and in a few minutes you have a morning gift of life giving energy and civility. The one lesson this should bring to you attention to is no matter how much good coffee you pour into Eeyore and how often you do it, you still are going to change that glum expression.