In my unending effort to improve the lives of you people, I offer some wisdom concerning coffee and the making thereof. We know there are those among us who drink “instant coffee”, a darkish liquid that resembles actual coffee only in temperature and color. Others drink Folgers or Maxwell House or another canned coffee that also resembles coffee in appearance, but tastes like something that was rinsed off a soiled track shoe.
There are only 5 or 6 fundamentals to brewing a good cup of coffee. Even if they are not exactly met, the coffee will be good, if not excellent. Mastery of these fundamentals will produce an elixir that rivals the spirits of malted barley produced in the Greater Hebrides for its complexity, taste, and purity of essence.
Good Coffee
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4 am feeding = first!
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AB loved his coffee and we brew it in the light of proper way. We only have foldgers for the in-laws who don’t know better
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Third!!!
TGIF!!!
Mornin’ Gang -
LD, I hope that little Sunshine is getting better.
I’m loading up for a trip to Alabama, after the last three weeks of testing @ work, 10-12 hour days. I figured I could use a little R&R. -
Great article on coffee making, this caught my attention;
The temperature of your water: Temperature affects extraction rate because solids dissolve more quickly at higher temperatures. Temperature also affects flavor because it determines which solids get dissolved. Using water that’s too hot will lead to sour coffee since it releases unpleasant acids from the coffee beans. For this reason, we recommend brewing with water between 195 and 202 degrees. And remember, measure the water actually in the coffee and not just what you’re pouring. There’s often a difference.
I’ve long since known that the best way to screw up coffee is to use boiling water, the Bunn people keep their water at a constant 170 degrees. 202 seems a little high, way too close to boiling.
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I think they sell that at HEB.
Those of you in West Houston should swing by the Java Tea & Coffee Company at Westheimer & Fondren. -
Good morning, Hamsterville, and LD and her little one!
Iron Mary be not afear’d of scorn for her likin’ of instant coffee, even if she be the onlyest one on the wharf. -
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Speaking of Coffee
That missing ingredient! -
Kinda like the tears of your vanquished enemies.
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Thanks for all the prayers and wishes. I have been keeping an eye out here while the hospital with Sunshine to make sure her silly Nonna doesn’t do something crazy anytime soon. Thanks for keeping her in line ;P
Sunshine is doing much better today. They still have her on a regiment of antibiotics and it looks like the soonest we will be out of here will be Tuesday. So let’s keep our fingers crossed. Sunshine doesn’t seem as irritable today. She actually let the nurse check her vitals this morning and change her diaper without crying out in bloody murder. But her color is great and she is more alert and awake during the day. So I am starting to read next to her in her crib. There isn’t much else I can do other than be the cow and help soothe her when they poke and prod her. Her doctor from the clinic, a very competent old world Sicilian (thumbs up in my book) doctor came by the hospital to check in on her. He caught AB and informed him that the cultures still haven’t grown fully yet, so it’s going to be a bit longer till we find out what it is that is getting Sunshine. But the medicine seems to help which is great.
Keep those prayers up and now that I am settled here in the hospital I will check in here and there. I feel like I need to start a barter and trade system like in prison because room service keeps forgetting things like silverware and salt and pepper. Can’t complain since the nurses are letting me stay here for free and telling the insurance that of course a 3 week old is eating all this food, what do you expect? So blessed. -
Btw, if you want a GREAT cup of proper coffee in Houston go to boomtown coffee in the heights. AB and I went there on a date before LS was born and it was great!! The heights might be full of hippies but they sure do have great food and coffee places.
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An extremely plain-spoken examination of racial politcs.
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Good morning Hamsters. Three cheers for LS, LD, and AB and the good medical folks watching over them. Prayers for continued healing.
Awful mugly morning started at 76, still mugly and mostly miserable outside at 9. We’re in the dregs of summer hanging on by its fingernails. Forecast indicates a westerly wind shift soon, so that should help chase the muglies away. Plantlife around the place is bedraggled at best and dead at worst, but the blessed surprise rain here on Tuesday has perked things up a bit. One day closer to the first real cool front. -
Best cup of coffee I ever drank came from and old cowboy friend of mine that dripped water through eggshells and the coffee of course. Never found out what brand of coffee he used but it was nectar from heaven.
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#16 – I’ve enjoyed the same before
Although plain old ground Folgers is AOK @ Chez Katfish (with a bit of cinammon & local honey stirred in)
I have no use whatsoever for so-called “fancy” coffees and the FANCY prices! -
I like to meet a friend at a place in Pearland called Coffee Roasters. I’m not a coffee buff, though I drink it on occasion. No way can I drink it black, I have to have creamer and sweetener and preferably vanilla flavoring in it. I go into CR and it bugs me because I can’t just ask for a “cup of coffee”. Ask that and they look at me, and ask if I would prefer the Brazilian or Ugandan. Hell, I don’t know. Just give me a cup of dang coffee!
Some of the best – and the place that got me drinking it at all – was in a Whataburger. That’s also where I found the vanilla creamer. Before that night, I never thought I’d drink coffee. -
What did you use to put the coffee in Sarge? Remember them old military black nylon socks? HEH
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#19 – Now I will say Buc-EEs has pretty darned GOOD coffee (several varying strengths too – I like it strong)……….they also have more than a dozen different flavored creamers
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My heart weeps not:
Trumka: Mistakes were made in Obamacare, not throught through -
And this commenter nails it (from previous Trumka story):
The drug addict complains to the pusher for selling he and his homies bad dope.
Make no mistake about it, Trumka has no interest in doing away with OdumboCare. All he wants is Odumbo to step in and illegally change the law by executive fiat, to something that is palatable to union cronyism. -
Another good one: If socialists thought things through, they wouldn’t be socialists.
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Obama better stay out of Papua, New Guinea.
Black Jesus hacked to death by villagers -
20 squawkbox says:
August 30, 2013 at 9:27 am
What did you use to put the coffee in Sarge? Remember them old military black nylon socks? HEHAnkle length ladies hose, and those little mini-bags of coffee I find at HEB. I can get two mornings out of those little sacks if I only drink one cup. If I take different kinds of coffee for several days, I use different color hose and pre-load them with the appropriate flavor, then segregate them into separate sammich bags.
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Sarge the gourmand fashionista.
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#9 😀
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I have a brother in law that did some research into various coffee brewing methods several years ago. When he visits, he always brings his scale, thermometer, and french press. He really does make a mean cup of joe now. I do not have the time in the morning for such complexity. I load whole beans into the top of my Cuisinart, add water, and push the button to turn the timer on so that at 5:33 am the grinder spins and deposits the grounds into the basket below. Why 5:33 am?… so the pot is done brewing at about 5:40 when I walk into the kitchen. I am out the door about 5 minutes after that.
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Now regarding that other elixir of life… I always wondered how this is done. Now I know.
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Good info Sarge.
mucho garcia amigo -
Texmo
I have a brother in law that did some research into various coffee brewing methods several years ago. When he visits, he always brings his scale, thermometer, and french press.
Yikes, I would be killing things before I got my coffee being that complex. no doubt thayt he prolly makes a great cup of mud.
I am partial to my Keurig and Tully’s house blend. Not saying that is the best it just suits my needs. BSue gets up before I do so the machine is on and in 5 minutes after stubbing my toe getting out of bed I am drinkin muh kaffee. -
You hear they found some bones on the moon?
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Apparently the cow didn’t make it. -
There was a time in my life when I carried a scale around with me.
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“I shall mention in passing just one example of a gift from the Arabs that I for one am rather grateful for: coffee — especially as it was originally banned in Europe as a ‘Muslim drink.”
― Jim Al-Khalili
My Momma always said if you cannot find anything good to say about someone then don’t say anything at all. Muslims gave us coffee. Who said Muslims never contributed anything to society?
Squawkbox -
There was a time in my life when I carried a scale around with me.
Never judge a person by their scale I (just now) always say.
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Obama the coward has sent Kerry on TV to make the case for bombing Syria. He is speakin now.
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I had a heart-stopping moment at the cash register as my “big stock-up on staples” at Kroger got rung up. I wanted to get everything non-perishable that we need for the next couple of months so David will only have to go for milk and bread. I was low on many of the vitamins and supplements we take, and I only buy those when they are on BOGO sale. But the free one doesn’t get subtracted until the checker rings up done. The total was around $375 when she was done and started scanning my coupons. At the end, my receipt said $144 saved, combination of BOGOs, coupons, and senior discount on Kroger brands.
Mentally, I am still back grocery shopping 15 years ago when it was astonishing if I hit $80. -
The total was around $375 when she was done and started scanning my coupons. At the end, my receipt said $144 saved,
Need a job? Have I got a deal for you. All the coffee you can drink too.
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If it is do your grocery shopping, no thanks. Plus I’m prolly going to be on crutches for a while. Remember, my motto now is: I don’t wanna, I don’t hafta, I’m retired!
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grumpy 🙂
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She whines a lot, too.
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I noticed.
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#14 mharper42
This just nails it perfectly. Wonder if the author now needs bodyguards.
When we moved to Houston in 1969 we noticed that frequently black people seemed to look down on Latinos, who then were much less numerous than now in Houston. New friends here told us this was the case, not our imagination. In the 44 years we’ve been here, this has not changed and seems to have become progressively more divisive.
In the spring, two black teens-early 20s slugged a friend’s daughter and her U of H classmate on the Toy Train in Houston, completely out of the blue, and injured both though fortunately not seriously. The young ladies are Latinas. All recorded on the train cameras. The driver immediately stopped and called police. The perps fled the train but were later caught and jailed thanks to the cameras. Not many passengers on board at the time, mid-morning on a weekday. Unfortunately my friend’s daughter was not able to demonstrate her kicking expertise, she holding a U of H soccer scholarship. She packs a wallop. I don’t recall this type of assault being widespread in 1969. But then political correctness had not infected so many otherwise rational Americans then that allowed such behavior to grow almost unfettered. 🙁 -
If my family can get out of a grocery store for under $200, then that was a good deal. $250 seems to be the new normal and it is not uncommon to hit $300 for the week. Keep in mind though that feeds a family of 5 about 90% of our meals.
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my #47
… and we eat pretty low carb as well. -
Who was it that said the other day Mocha jesus isn’t stupid? I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a bumbling bunch of morons in my lifetime. Spend all week telegraphing your punches then blame “news reports” for allowing Assad to hide all his military assets. Mr. Reset was counting on the world to rally behind him in a coalition. He has a coalition of exactly zero members, no UN mandate, no NATO (does that even exist anymore?) mandate. He doesn’t even have a mandate of his sycophants. The Keystone Cops looked like military geniuses next to this idiot.
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Well I rolled in about 4 and Lil’ Sister had the AC’s running so it is cold in this old house. I checked in a few times but my Verizon Stick doesn’t seem to like some parts of southern Louisiana or Mississippi. It always found a 4G signal with 1-4 bars, but it took several tries to hook up. It worked real good in north Florida Mississippi on I-20 and I-10 in east Texas.
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Dang,I heard thunder a little bit ago and now it is pouring down rain!! I’m glad that I unloaded the truck, started to put it off. FWIW: I emptied the rain gauge as soon as I got here. 😉
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Ms. Shannon’s sister did indeed have a stroke.
It seems that only her speech has been affected. But they have been doing tests to figure out why, to no avail. Until now.
They have this new test which is basically an ultrasound of the heart accomplished from the esophagus. Wow. It turns out she has a blood clot inside the left ventricle of the heart. We just got word of these test results and apparently things are jumping right now in that hospital room.
Concurrently, Ms. Shannon’s granddaughter has been in labor since it was induced at 6am this morning and just now got an epidural.
Ms Shannon, 72, has spent two days in computer training because her internist boss has accepted an offer from big-time corporate medicine, and she is totally lost.
Needless to say Ms Shannon is a little stressed out and I’ve decided she needs your prayers as much as the other two.
Thanks. -
#47 TexMo
I buy for 2 people and 6 cats. Most of the pet purchases I make are, surprisingly, cheapest at Kroger. The cats’ favorite canned food is more expensive at Walmart for some reason. Several times a year, PetSmart has a sale on Friskies cat food that makes it worthwhile to buy by the caseload.
But what ran up my bill today was all those darned vitamins. When I was seeing $375 on the register readout, that was for both bottles of every BOGO pair. When the discount kicked in, the total dropped back from near-orbit into merely stratospheric. 🙂 -
#52 Shannon
Sorry your whole family is having problems; you must be just as stressed or maybe moreso. I did think that stroke refers to a clot in the brain, had never heard it called a stroke in the heart. But most importantly: Can they fix it, and undo any damage?
Are you not able to help your wife with her computer homework?
And finally: So you are about to become a great-grandfather. -
Yes a stroke is in the brain.
Apparently caused (in this case) by a piece of the clot in the heart breaking off and traveling to the brain. -
A clot residing in the heart isn’t something you hear about much.
Those with various types of heart arrhythmia (e.g.: atrial fibrillation, like me) are susceptible to strokes for this very reason. -
Great grandbaby is making progress. Should be here before 8pm.
The new grandpa (Ms. Shannon’s son) is going insane. Pretty funny. -
Yikes, Shannon. Your household has gone past the Stop the World I Wanna Get Off stage. Continuing prayers launched for the family. And you take it easy so you can be the anchor one in the chaos. 🙂
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Wow, Shannon, things be jumpin’ at your place! Kneemails for all!
And as for that induced labor baby – I don’t know how many times we thought Sunshine was on her way, only to have her arrival delayed by some problem or other. For everyone’s sake, I hope the little one arrives on schedule.
Those day-long labors are killers. For mom and the family.
I should know – I’ve been through 3 very long labors, two mine and one LD’s. -
Wiki has a good piece on the Transesophageal Echocardiogram (TEE) my sis-in-law had today.
Pretty cool.
(Non-mobile link unavailable to me.)
A regular echocardiogram did not pick up the clot. -
she needs your prayers as much as the other two.
everyone always does.
Must be tough on someone of your advanced age. -
🙂
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She’s a cougar.
Keeps me young. -
Klein Oaks’ drill team is automatically cool.
They took the field to the Blazing Saddles Theme. -
New Braunfels’ newest citizen has arrived.
Statistics to follow.
It’s a girl. -
Congrats! What’s the name?
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6 lbs, 8 oz.
Ten toes.
Yippeeee! -
Name is Mikah Marie.
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How many fingers?
Five per limb? -
Shannon, Prayers on the way.
And congratulations on the prayer that was just answered.
I can’t wait for grand kids. -
Gotta see this. Sajak gots one mean sense o’ humor!
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Shannon, glad the birth went well, and yr SIL has been diagnosed. Please keep us posted this long weekend.
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Silverado time again.
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