Episode: 1857
Title: HPR1857: Adventures In Coffee
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr1857/hpr1857.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-18 10:15:42

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This is HBR episode 1857 entitled Adventure in Coffee, it is hosted by Curtis and Kins,
C-Prompt and in about 19 minutes long, the summer is.
C-Prompt talks about his adventure in coffee making and how he finally realized that of
a French priest.
This episode of HBR is brought to you by an honest host.com, get 15% discount on all shared
hosting with the offer code HBR15, that's HBR15.
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Hey everyone, this is C-Prompt and North Carolina for Hacker Public Radio.
I want to pop on and do a real quick show, we were running really low on some shows, so
I'm going to do a impromptu show.
So very little show notes and unscripted 100%.
What I want to talk about is my adventures in coffee.
Now I want to preface this with saying that I am not a coffee snob, but I do like a good
cup of coffee, I can appreciate it.
In the past, I've always used a normal drip coffee pot, I used to get the ones that
were had a timer, so I could set it to come on at a certain time, so when I first get
up in the morning, my coffee is already brewed and I'm ready to go.
But those coffee pots were starting to get a little expensive, I got some cheap ones,
and I spent maybe 50 bucks on, which isn't really cheap, but it's cheap enough, I guess.
And those didn't last, they didn't last six months for whatever reason.
And then for a holiday gift, maybe Christmas or birthday, or some type of gift, I think,
my mother-in-law purchased a quiesenart for my wife and I.
It was a really nice one, it had a really nice tempered glass pot and had all the bells
and whistles.
You can set multiple timers, it had a nice display, it was mostly plastic, but it had some
chrome on it, I guess.
But I had that for maybe a year and it would brew coffee, but it wasn't hot, so the burner
just went out.
Well, I looked online and tried to find if I could just replace the burner, I'm not opposed
to replacing a piece of an equipment, if it's broke, as opposed to just tossing it and
buying something new, if I can.
I could not find anything for this coffee pot, for any coffee pot for my quiesenart, I
mean, it was just, they were non-existent, or they were real sketchy websites.
So I put it off to the side, I think I still got it actually, it might be up in the
attic or in a closet somewhere, because I'm a pack rat, so I don't really throw anything
away.
So I put it off to the side and I got another one, it was a, like a Mr. Coffee, coffee pot
I think, and it was the same kind of scenario, you know, it had the nice glass coffee pot,
it had a timer, so I could set to come on and my coffee is already brewed by the time
I get up in the morning, but it did almost the same thing, except for this one, instead
of it not getting hot, it got hot, but it didn't brew the coffee.
So I woke up in the morning, one morning, and I had a really hot coffee pot and no coffee.
So whatever.
So I put that one off to the side and again, I think it's still up in the attic or in
a closet somewhere as well.
So I get really tired of spending all this money on these coffee pots, and I was at
a department store one afternoon, and I saw a French press, and I was like, you know,
this thing is 10 bucks, how, why am I not using this instead?
It sits a little bit more work and it's not going to be done by the time I get up in
the morning, but I think I can work it out.
Well, a lot of trial and error, I had to learn how to actually use a French press.
Sounds stupid because it's such a simple piece of equipment, but you know what?
You don't simply just throw some coffee grounds in there and let her fly.
You get a really nasty cup of coffee, it's very bitter.
It's just, it's not a very good cup of coffee, and coffee is expensive.
So you don't want to really waste it.
So here's what I've came up with.
I've got a French press, and I get some pretty decent coffee.
I don't go all out, but I do get some pretty decent coffee.
Well, I guess it is kind of going all out.
I don't really get coffee at the local grocery, I get it fresh ground, a whole pound at a
time, at a grocery.
So let me back up.
So when I was at this department store, I saw this coffee pot or this French press and
it's called a bottom, bottom, B-O-D-U-M, bottom coffee pot.
It was ten bucks, I'll get it, and we'll see what happens.
So I went to a local grocer, we go there every once in a while.
It's kind of a yuppie, sorry, for that term, but it really is, whatever.
Went to a local grocer called the fresh market, and I don't know if, I don't know how, how
much they're around the states.
I think it's just states.
I had to look that up, but I think they're only in the United States.
They might go under a different name, international, but I don't know how far, how many states
they're actually in, but we have a few around here.
But it's a really nice grocery store, it's expensive, but they do have some really nice stuff.
So for a few things, we do go there for some of their produce, we get there, and they have
really good coffee.
They have a really good dark French roast that you can, you know, fresh ground right there
at the grocer, and it's wonderful.
So I purchased the French press, and I went to go get some coffee, and you can grind coffee
a multitude of ways.
This is the grinder they have there in the store is the typical coffee grinder, it's
a big huge thing, you pour it on the top, and turn the big huge dial to the way that
you want it, and then hit the grind button and off you go, and it pours it into the
little paper bag.
So for a French press, you really want to use a coarse ground coffee, so like big chunks.
You don't want anything really fine because of the way the French press works.
If you use something too fine, then it will come through the strainer and then you get
it nasty, you get a mouthful of coffee grounds when you drink the coffee, so, you know,
there it is.
So you want a coarse ground coffee.
So the way that the French press works, you have a glass, it looks like a glass cylinder,
I don't know what you would call it, yeah, not a chemist, so I don't know what that
would be called.
So you have a glass jar type of thing, and it has a plunger, so this can't goes down
on top of it, and the plunger goes down on the bottom of the plunger.
It has a wire mesh, and that's what kind of, when not kind of, but it does, it pushes
the coffee grounds down, and it holds them down, so they don't come through to the liquid
part, so you're not pouring the coffee grounds into your coffee cup.
So look it up, you can kind of see how a coffee press works, it's real simple, if you
don't know, that is.
So I got the French press, and I got some really nice fresh market, French roast coarse
ground coffee, then I had to figure out how to make the coffee.
So what I did was, is I went to a local department store again, and I found a Pyrex 4 cup measuring
cup, so it's a big, huge measuring cup of Pyrex, Pyrex is kind of a glass that, I mean,
you can put the thing in an oven, it doesn't matter, it's really difficult to break this
stuff, if it even possible.
So I found one of those, because the French press that I got was a 4 cup French press.
So what I do is, and I kind of had to experiment on the temperature and stuff, but around 200
degrees is where you want the water to be.
So you can boil the water, or you can microwave it, personally, I microwave it because it's
quicker.
I microwave the water until it gets around 200 degrees, and I found out that it, where
I am in North Carolina, I can set my microwave to about 5 and a half minutes, and that Pyrex,
that 4 cup measuring cup of water, gets to almost 200 degrees, and that's pretty much perfect
for me.
You don't want the water to be too hot, because it will kind of scald the coffee grounds,
and you get kind of a funky bitter taste.
It's not bad, I guess, and man, I kind of like bitter, and I like really strong coffee,
so it's not that bad for me, I guess, if I get it too hot, it just makes it longer for
me to wait to have to drink it, because I got a wimpy mouth, I guess, but whatever.
So fill up the Pyrex dish, Pyrex, the measuring cup to about 2, 4 cups, 2, that's T-O cups,
2 cups, 2, 4 cups, so I put 4 cups of water in the Pyrex dish, Pyrex measuring cup,
heat it up in the microwave for 5 and a half minutes, that gets the water to about 200 degrees
for me.
I take 8 tablespoons of this coarse ground coffee and put it into my French press, kind
of shake it up a little bit, so it's kind of evened out.
You don't want it lumpy on one side, because then when you press it, it kind of doesn't
work too well.
It's lopsided.
So kind of shake it around a little bit, put your coffee in the French press, shake it
around a little bit until it gets nice and even, then when your coffee, your water that
is, water gets to about 200 degrees, I'm going to pour, I go ahead and pour the whole
thing in there, pour the whole four cups into my four cup press, and I'm going to let
it sit for about 30 to 45 seconds, and apparently this lets the gases and stuff that's inside
those coffee beans, it lets them start to escape, and you really get this nice aroma
in the kitchen whenever you're making a coffee, it's wonderful.
This is, I forgot what they call it, I had to look that up, but it puts a nice crust,
that sounds disgusting really, but you know, all the coffee grounds come to the top of
the water, and it makes this crusty chunk on the top of the water, after about 30 to
40,000 seconds.
I'll take a spoon and I'll kind of easily, you know, break that up and stir it, stir
up the coffee grounds back into the water for, I don't know, 10, 15, 20 seconds or whatever,
just kind of stir it up, and just kind of mix the coffee grounds up in the water.
After we do this, you know, the crust has gone off the top, the coffee grounds are nice
mixed in there, now we're going to let it steep, and this is steeping, it's a lot like
when you know what you would do with the tea, if you drink tea in the tea banks and you
just let it sit in the hot water, the coffee starts to expand out into the water.
And when you start to stir this, you get this real nice creamy top to the French press,
it's really nice, you get this nice creamy top, it's kind of like a, if you drink beer,
like a stout or something like a Guinness or a milk stout, like a dragon's milk or something
of that nature, if you drink any of those beers and you pour it and you kind of get that
nice creamy head, you get this with the French press after you mix it up, mix the coffee
grounds up.
Mix the coffee grounds into the water and we'll let it sit for about four minutes, and
this is going to let it steep real nice, so don't, I know there's some time involved
here, so you kind of just have to be patient and just let it sit, so after about four minutes,
you take the plunger and just push it on down all the way to the bottom, coffee grounds
go to the bottom, water stays at the top, it's nice and creamy, and pour away and have
a nice fresh cup of coffee.
Now I personally like strong black coffee, but every once in a while, I do like to put
a little cream for in it, it's gasp, I know, it's awful, but I don't drink dairy milk,
not for any medical reasons or snobbish reasons, I just don't like it, just don't like the taste,
but I do love almond milk and there is a brand of almond creamer for coffee by company
called Caliphia, I think that's how you pronounce it, Caliphia, they make a really good almond
milk creamer that I really like, so if you do use creamer, make sure that you put the
creamer in the cup first and then pour the hot coffee on top.
If you do it the other way around, it tends to skull the milk and you get this filmy
nastiness on top of the coffee and you just ruin your lovely fresh cup of French press
coffee, so make sure that you put the creamer in first and then you put the coffee, enjoy.
So just kind of go over that again, get your French press, your coarse ground coffee,
get your coffee into the French press, you know, me, I like strong coffee like I said,
so I'm going to put eight tablespoons into my French press and heat the water up to
about 200 degrees, not more than that, you don't want it to boil, you just want it nice
and hot.
After it's about 200 degrees, pour it into the French press real nice and slow so it doesn't
spill all over the place.
Let it sit for about 30 to 45 seconds and all those coffee grounds going to rise to
the top, make it nice crust, you want that crust.
Break up the crust after about 30 to 45 seconds, you're going to break it up and stir that
coffee grounds into the water nice and even and slow and after you do that for about
5, 10 seconds of stirring, let it sit for four minutes, after four minutes, put the plundering
all the way down and enjoy your nice first cup of coffee.
So if you don't use a French press, give it a go, it can't hurt, they are cheap.
So hope this was an entertaining value to you and if you haven't recorded a show for
HBR, I highly encourage you to do so, thanks a lot and thanks for listening and bye-bye.
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