Even if you DON'T normally like coffee, read this email anyway...
because I've had at LEAST 20 people that I know that don't normally like
coffee that tried
"Geary's Perfect Cup of Coffee" and they actually LOVED it.
These
were all people that don't drink coffee and say that they don't even
like coffee, and yet they were hooked on my recipe for the perfect cup
of joe, asking me if they could have another!
How to make what's been called "The PERFECT cup of coffee" (and yes, it's actually healthy too!)
My
wife and I have a lot of friends and family come to visit us at our
house in the mountains of Utah... after all, when you live near a
beautiful ski resort, with fun mountain activities in both the winter
and the summer, you end up with a LOT of house guests!
The origins of
"Geary's Perfect Cup of Coffee" started
simply with me experimenting with different methods of making coffee,
from the brewing method, the bean quality, the grinding method, and what
you add to the coffee. Time and time again, many of our coffee-loving
friends that visited us would exclaim "Holy crap, that's the BEST cup of
coffee I've ever tasted!"... but even MORE interesting was that our
friends that DON'T drink any coffee agreed to try it when they visited
and came away from the trip new-found coffee-lovers!
I know
everybody has different tastes for their coffee... some people like
light roast, some dark...some people like it black, and others with
cream and some sort of sweetener... some like it very sweet, and others
mildly sweet. What I will describe below seems to end up being voted as
the "perfect cup" by the majority of people I've made this for... even
some people that generally drink black coffee with no sweetener at all
end up liking this better usually. It's a very mild sweetness, as too
much sweetener can mask the true taste of a good cup of coffee.
I
will say that you can do this best at home and not at a coffee shop,
because most coffee shops don't have 2 of the ingredients I'll talk
about below. Also, although it might seem that I have a lot of steps
below, it really only takes
less than 5 minutes to make this perfect cup of coffee at home.
Ok, here goes...
First, for the absolute best taste and also health benefits, we always start with
organic coffee beans. Coffee is a crop that can be heavily laced with pesticide and herbicide chemicals, so organic is a must.
Next, I always opt for
dark roast or medium-dark roast, as I've noticed that most people tend to prefer a darker roast (not everybody, but most).
Then,
I grind the beans FRESH each morning in a simple little "bullet"
grinder. Now I've heard that true coffee snobs will always use a "burr"
grinder which assures that the grain size is consistent instead of
random grain sizes...A burr grinder apparently gives the absolute best
taste and is what all of the top 5 star restaurants use for their
coffee. However, I've found that if the beans are good quality, even my
simple little cheap bullet grinder seems to make the best tasting cup
of coffee or espresso that you can imagine, so I haven't invested in a
high priced burr grinder yet.
Next, I take the finely ground beans and I make a double espresso in a fairly
cheap little espresso machine
that we bought. I think it was only $40 if I remember correctly, so
this definitely wasn't some fancy $2000 espresso maker. Honestly, this
little $40 espresso machine puts out a really good espresso that seems
to compare in taste to higher priced machines. I'm thinking of upgrading to a much higher quality espresso machine though,
the breville barista shown here.
Instead of making a
brewed cup of coffee, I use the double shot of espresso to make a
"concentrated Americano"... to do this, I only add 1 inch of boiling
water from my teapot to the mug after adding the double espresso to the
mug. In a normal Americano that you get at most coffee shops, much
greater amounts of hot water are added to the cup, which dilutes the
espresso too much in my opinion. I know some people love to make brewed
coffee from a drip maker or a French press or some other method, but
from what I've seen, my version of the "concentrated Americano" using
the espresso as the base seems to get the best taste votes from
everybody that's taste-tested with me.
Don't get me wrong... a
great quality strong coffee made in a drip or a French press can still
be amazing...but my vote still goes to the concentrated Americano for
superior taste.
Now for the additions...
I
only add a little bit of coconut sugar, stevia, and full-fat grass-fed
organic heavy cream to make what's been voted the "perfect cup of
coffee".
Lightly sweetened naturally, not artificially:
For the coconut sugar,
this brand is my #1 top favorite,
as it seems to have the deepest flavor, with a bit of a molasses flavor
that really adds something special to a cup of coffee. Also, coconut
sugar has a lower glycemic response than plain sugar, and it does
contain some minerals and other nutrients too, so in terms of caloric
sweeteners, it's one of the best. Once I open the container of coconut
sugar, I usually add a bunch of stevia and mix the coconut sugar and
stevia together. This way, I'm reducing the sugar calories that you get
in each cup of coffee (it's only 3-4 grams with each cup of coffee, so
nothing significant), but you still get the rich taste that coconut
sugar provides.
A little Vitamin K2 with your cup of joe?
Whatever
you do, if you care about your health, never ever ever use those crappy
powdered creamers that are typically at hotels and gas stations. They
are nothing but corn syrup and hydrogenated oils that will kill you. And
never use those fake liquid creamers that most people seem to buy at
home... you know, the fancy flavored ones that have tons of added sugar
(usually corn syrup) and usually have hydrogenated oils too. Instead,
we need to use REAL full-fat cream for the best taste, and surprisingly
to most, the best health benefits too.
And forget about silly
"half & half" that was popular because of the fat-phobic 1980's
mentality... just use REAL heavy cream with all of it's glorious full
fattiness! Real full-fat cream is what our grandparents used in their
coffee...they didn't have "half & half", or even worse, 2% or skim
milk...Yuck! Stop being afraid of fat! Fat doesn't make you fat
(assuming you're doing other things correctly with diet and exercise).
One important distinction is to use
organic
cream, because the pesticides and other chemicals used in dairy farming
will be found mostly in the fat portion of milk, so organic is
important here too just as it is with the beans. Also, if possible, use
a grass-fed cream -- Organic Valley brand has a pasture raised cream
that I've found in many grocery stores across the country.
And as
I was getting to before, there are surprisingly some important health
benefits with real grass-fed cream, including possible
benefits for reducing artery clogging...that's
right, the vitamin K2 in grass-fed dairy fat has some evidence that it
can help prevent arterial calcification. And that vitamin K2 in the
cream, combined with the antioxidants in coffee make for a heart-healthy
cup of joe!
I use about 1 Tbsp of pasture-raised heavy cream in each "perfect cup of coffee".
One
last thing... I personally try to reduce my caffeine intake, so I
strictly keep myself to only 1 cup of coffee per day. This keeps me to
under 100 mg of caffeine per day (since we use espresso, which actually
has less caffeine than regular coffee surprisingly), and I feel keeping
this to 1 cup per day is important to prevent addiction to caffeine and
some of the adrenal issues that can be caused from excessive daily
caffeine.
That's about it!
At this point, grab those
ingredients and you could be sipping the finest, richest-tasting,
perfectly lightly sweetened, creamy and nutritious antioxidant-rich cup
of coffee. This "perfect cup of coffee" recipe is actually so good that
I've learned that I like to have it all by itself sometimes to
appreciate the true flavors without any food masking the flavor at all.
Again,
here are the characteristics of what's been called the "perfect cup of
coffee" by even non coffee drinkers that visit us at our home:
- Use
organic whole beans and grind FRESH each day (this really only takes 30
seconds to grind, so why not grind fresh for absolute best tasting
coffee ever)
- I like to use a dark roast or medium-dark roast (most people seem to like this flavor best)
- I
use a mini espresso machine and add about 1 inch of boiling water to the mug after
the double espresso is done to make a "concentrated Americano"
- For
sweetener, I lightly sweeten with a small spoonful of coconut sugar
mixed with stevia (I mix some stevia into the coconut sugar container
instead of measuring each time)
- For cream, I use approx 1
Tbsp of grass-fed organic heavy cream (this works better than half &
half; after all, you know that you shouldn't be afraid of fat as
grass-fed cream is a healthy fat)
Enjoy the best cup of coffee you've ever tasted!
Like
I mentioned before, you can't really make this at coffee shops, because
most shops don't have coconut sugar or organic heavy cream. But, what I
usually do at coffee shops is simply order the double espresso with
about 1 inch of hot water, and then add half & half (since they
don't usually have heavy cream) and stevia. It comes out pretty good,
but not even close to as good as "Geary's perfect cup of joe" made at
home.
I have some more ideas on making
truly healthy coffee at this article here...
some of the ideas on that page are similar, and some are a bit
different, including using coconut cream and cinnamon in your coffee too.
If
you liked today's ideas on making the "perfect cup of coffee", please
fwd this email on to any of your friends, family, or co-workers that
also love coffee!
-Mike
