So it's like that, huh?

I woke up this morning with that soft-palate soreness that only indicates that a cold will shortly take up residence in my household.  My household being ME.  Because Mr. Sweetness/O is out of town M-F lately.

Why is this happening?  Oh wait, I haven't had a sickness or cold come to think of it, for probably 2 years. So I suppose it is well overdue that it is my turn.  WTF?  *sigh*  I ALSO suppose that my self-diagnosed presickness will be requiring a night of couchsurfing to cure it.  Yes, this is an official prescription.  Given by Dr. Sillypants.

Along with the couchsurfing I am also prescribing a night of leftover deep-dish pizza.  This is a cure-all.  Mark my words.

Okay, back to the task at hand, which is???

Coffee.  I had this idea LAST friday from a twitter friend that also has a lovely blog.  Shout out to Hollie at http://fueledbylolz.com/.  Go check her funny, humble and honest blog out. DO IT!  (all zero of you).

She is addicted to or at least partakes in gas station coffee.  Exclusively, I would say (I might be mistaken).  BUT, I told her I'm a coffee snob (truth) and that I will make coffee at home.

Hollie said she didn't know how to get "good" coffee at home.  Well, I shared a bit with her and I will enlighten here as well.

I worked as a "Barista" at a locally owned coffee shop here in Iowa-y.  They featured their own roasts of coffee as well as crazy-priced sandwiches which were just "meh" in my opinion.

Coffee must start with a good bean, fresh, un-ground and kept away from heat and light.  NOT IN YOUR FREEZER.  Seriously, who came up with sticking beans in a freezer?  They should be punched repeatedly in the gonads.  Ideally you don't want beans to be much older than 2 weeks old.  But who really has beans for less than 2 weeks.  I know I don't.  So...SINNER.

Then, grind.  I have a burr grinder, which I actually acquired from my Father.  He finally listened to me and started hoarding mid-range/low-range burr grinders when he saw them at Sam's.  A burr grinder unlike a blade grinder actually gets more flavor from the bean.  Crushing them rather than cutting them.  It's some scientific mumbo-jumbo I certainly don't understand but I pretend to get.  It works for me.

Water---preferably filtered.  Yes, I use a Brita filter.  I'm high class like that. No ozonated water here, pure and adulterated class all the way.  You're just lucky I don't use old pantyhose to filter that stuff.  MMMM...

Back to coffee (again).  So really, it comes down to beans, grind, and water.  After that it's just about adjusting your strength.  Most coffee packaging will suggest 1 Tablespoon to 6 oz water.  I like to up it.  Because I like to drink sludge, or less-than seethrough coffee.  I want it to be THICK.  I use probably 1-1 1/4 T. per cup of coffee.  So if it says 4 cups, I use 4-5 HEAPING Tablespoons of coffee grounds.

And then BREW!  I love me some half-and-half too.  I don't do any of that fancy stuff, no creamer, no skim milk, no soy, no almond milk.  HALF and HALF.  And if I'm feeling particularly suicidal....whipping cream.  It takes less and tastes OH SO GOOD.  I am pretty militant about my coffee.

SNOB all the way.