My roommate has a coffee maker. An old, dirty, rusty and scary coffee maker I refuse to use. That thing is ancient. But I have a degree. Nay, even two; so I put my creative mind to work to overcome the challenge of brewing coffee.
(Photo courtesy of Amazon.com)
After many trial and errors, I have almost perfected my little ghetto way of brewing coffee. I put 3.14 teaspoons of ground coffee in a measuring cup, while boiling water in the microwave for 2 minutes and 20 seconds. When it bubbles I take it out and let it rest for a few seconds; don’t want to be scolding our precious beans. I pour it in, stir once, and cover with one of the saucepan lids. I set my timer for 6 minutes and walk away.
Now, filtering, the heart of my device. I get one of those small but deep sifters and put a paper filter inside it; it fits perfectly. I put it on my mug, propping the handle on the big Morton’s Salt box, and placing a thermos on the opposite side. The thermos will not be used to contain any liquid.
Next, I open my left hand slightly and put it inside the sifter so that my finger tops press the paper filter against the rims. This is essential; if not done, there is a 66.7% chance that, while pouring the coffee, the paper filter will fold upon itself and spill everywhere.
With my right hand I take off the lid, give it a stir, and pour the liquid in the opening between my thumb and index finger. Once halfway-filled and heavy/wet enough to be stable, I remove my left hand, and quickly dump the rest of the coffee, scraping remaining grounds with a spoon.
Speed is key here. I lift the non-handle end of the sifter and prop it on the thermos, so that the whole sifter is suspended slightly above the mug. If not done, the filtered coffee inside the mug will rise to “meet” the bottom of the sifter, thus not filtering all the way through. And yes, I did experiment with different “propping devices” to get the height and stability just right.
As the liquid filters through, I wash and rinse the measuring cup; we don’t want any nasty coffee stains like on our teeth, now, do we? Once filtering is done, I wrap and twist the paper, giving it a hearty squeeze to get the last few drops out, and toss it to the bin. I rinse the sifter and set aside to dry.
The coffee is ready.