Coffee — My Journey to the Dark Side of the Roast

the journey, part 1 |  2 |  3 |  4 |  5 |  6 |  Posters

You can stay here a while and read about My Journey to the Dark Side of the Roast. Or, you can jump straight to the my articles about coffee roasting, grinding, brewing, espresso, and autofilling Silvia. If you jump ahead, be sure to come back to read the Journey, using the link at the bottom of the page or the "Coffee" navigation button.

First, a look a the present...  Espresso and its variations such as the Americano, the Café Crema, and the Latté, have become my primary coffee drinks.  My latest addition has been a "bottomless" portafilter for my Rancilio Silvia espresso machine. In the picture, the espresso is just starting to flow. Notice the droplets at the bottom of the streams. The espresso from the bottomless portafilter has a much better texture, much more crema, much more "mouth-feel" and much more aftertaste.

The Krups Pro-Aroma that satisfied me for so long has now taken a hike.  I bought a Cuisinart Brew Central DCC-1200 drip coffee maker.  Talk about good!  I added a SwissGold® #4 gold filter in place of the #4 gold-tone filter that came with it. The flavor from this coffee maker has been a dramatic improvement from the Pro-Aroma.  French press coffee is an occasional thing. 

Now, to the story...

My first coffee maker was a Mr. Coffee.  I thought this was fantastic.  It was so fast, the paper filters kept all the mess under control, and it didn't taste bitter like my parents' old percolator coffee did.  The Mr. Coffee finally died one morning before it presented me with my daily dose.  This was intolerable.  It was followed by some miscellaneous brand of coffee maker.  Before long, I found that i liked to buy the whole beans and grind them at the store, rather than buy the canned coffee.

The Bunn came into my world next, providing instant hot water and a faster response time than the Mr. Coffee ever considered.  The Bunn, how I loved that machine.  Always hot.  Always quick.  I used this for years, but  weekends were reserved for the espresso makers.  Sometimes I'd still buy packaged coffee (ever try Community Coffee?), but I'd look for good beans for special occasions.  I heard I could get  better lasting bean flavor by storing them in the freezer.

the journey, part 1 |  2 |  3 |  4 |  5 |  6 |  Posters

Copyright © 2002-2006 Terry A. Stockdale