A better cup of coffee

I find that the morning is best greeted with an excellent cup of coffee. But there’s a catch. You have to get up well before the kids. Why? Because otherwise you’ll get one good, hot sip before it’s time to put that coffee down to make breakfast for hungry boys and put ponytails in heads of hair. You want to do those things, of course. That’s part of being a mom. But you also need that cup of coffee. And all of it. While it’s hot.

It may sound slightly pretentious, but good coffee (that is, something better than Mr. Coffee can make) is a simple, handcrafted luxury that anyone can enjoy as part of their morning ritual.

Coffee materials should be simple to use, easy to clean, and capable of producing a hot cup of coffee in a timely manner. You can enjoy a superior cup of coffee every day if you are willing to put a bit of effort into setting the stage.

We have several methods of making coffee in our home: the espresso machine, the single-serve pour over, the Chemex and the press. The method we pick depends on the whim of the coffee drinker and the kind of coffee beans we have on hand. For the dark, chilly mornings of winter the mood usually calls for: the press.

Now, you might love your French press, but I’m not much of a fan. I admit that the French Press meets all the criteria for “good coffee.” And it’s a nice ritual. Just not the kind that I enjoy: a long wait while it brews, a tedious clean up process that all but guarantees you will get your hands dirty or end up with a mess in your sink. That and, let’s be honest, the run-of-the-mill French Press provides only one cup of hot coffee. The three remaining cups get cold while you drink the first cup. And we all know reheating coffee is what makes it bitter.

The French have my heart with their pastries and liberal use of butter, but not in the coffee press that also bears their name.

The press I enjoy most for my morning ritual is the AeroPress. The AeroPress is an affordable, portable, no-fuss, single serving press. Simple force extracts the flavor from the coffee. The result is the reliable Americano (that coffee drink you see on the coffee shop menu board but skip over because you aren't exactly sure what it is). And it’s brewed in just a few minutes. Piping hot.

The Americano. Now there is a coffee drink that has an interesting history! (I'm a nerd at heart so a drink that tastes great and is steeped in history is right in my wheelhouse.) The story goes that American soldiers stationed in Italy during WWII didn’t want to drink straight espresso because it was too strong. To make espresso seem more like the black coffee they were used to back home, they would add hot water to the espresso before drinking it. The soldiers later brought this new coffee staple home with them, thus the name. “Americano” means “American” in Italian.

A morning ritual that evokes feelings of sipping coffee in an Italian town on the Mediterranean? While in my home wearing slippers and a robe? Before the kids are up? Swoon. And please.

Oh, and bonus: when I have an excellent cup of coffee, I don’t need buckets of it. Usually two cups will do. Think of it like great chocolate or great wine. High quality is easier to savor.

Tools you will need for a simple (but delicious) cup of handcrafted AeroPress coffee:

1. An Aeropress
2. A tea kettle. I love this one.
3. Fresh whole beans
4. A coffee grinder
5. A thermometer
6. Filtered water (it makes a difference)

A note on buying fresh whole beans vs ground. Coffee freshness peaks one to two weeks after it has been roasted. Coffee loses its freshness within 30 minutes of being ground, which means the pre-ground coffee from the store is already quite stale when you buy it. The result is often bitter, acidic coffee. Find a local roaster and buy fresh whole beans directly from them. To preserve the integrity of the beans for as long as you can, grind only what you need right before you brew.

To make a superior, handcrafted cup of coffee:

1. Put your water on medium-high heat.
2. Grind your coffee.
3. Set up the AeroPress, add coffee grounds.
4. Rinse the filter (it makes a difference).
5. When your water is 175 degrees, pour into the AeroPress.
6. Stir coffee and water.
7. Allow to brew for just shy of two minutes.
8. Press your coffee directly into your coffee cup.
9. Eject the coffee puck directly into the compost/garbage. (Congrats! You have made a shot of espresso!)
10. Add as much hot water as desired to thin out the espresso.
11. Sip and enjoy a handcrafted cup of coffee in your favorite cup. This is mine.

Sound complicated? I promise it’s not. Watch this video to take a peek.

So, here's to a great cup of coffee!

Laundry Room Tip

If you are looking for a small way to make a big impact on your family's health, the laundry room is the best place to start, specifically, dryer sheets.

One summer I worked at a temp agency as an administrative assistant at a facility that manufactured cleaning products. The neighboring facility made dryer sheets. When the people who worked next door arrive for a meeting, the smell would announce their arrival. Static isn’t the only thing that clings to clothes. Fragrance does, too.

Of all the products in your laundry room, dryer sheets tend to be the most harmful to our senses and our skin. Dryer sheets are manufactured with a wide range of synthetic materials that cling to the clothes you wear all day, which in turn come in constant contact with your skin. The resulting irritation can lead to a variety of problems from headaches to hormonal imbalances. They may make your clothing static free and smell like lavender, but there is a much healthier option: wool dryer balls.

You can buy wool dryer balls almost anywhere—from Etsy to Amazon—and they are simple to use. I buy these on Amazon.

Just put a few drops of essential oil on the wool dryer ball, pop it in the dryer, and start your load to dry as normal. You can even create your own scent combinations. Here are some of my favorites:

Speaking of laundry, if you find yourself folding some this week, I thought this podcast episode had some interesting thoughts on streamlining the process.

Snippets of My Week

Me and my mug.

Trains and parking lots.

Finally got this print framed. It was in a tube for 17 years!

Dissecting an owl pellet for 6th grade science.

Caleb and I both finished this book. Recommended.

Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear how you are making your coffee these days—just hit reply if you’d like to share. I read all your messages and try to respond, but not always in a timely manner. Sorry! And if you enjoyed this email, you’d be doing me a favor by forwarding it to someone else who might like it.

From: Audra.