Coffee Talk: Keeping you Caffeinated Seven Days a Week

During the week, between getting the kids ready for school and myself ready for work, I rarely brew a fresh pot of coffee. Instead, each Sunday evening I brew a large pot and refrigerate it. Then, each morning, I either enjoy an iced coffee or quickly microwave a mug.

On the weekends, however, I enjoy the luxury of a little extra time to brew a pot of espresso.

The damage

• Drip brew coffee pot
• Mug
• Espresso pot
• Espresso cup and saucer

The coffees

• Espresso roast  beans, a batch finely ground for the machine and some coarsely ground for the pot
• Your favorite sweetener

For drip-brew coffee, add a heaping teaspoon of ground beans per cup of brew. (I mean HEAPING a'la Alton Brown.) Add water to the tank of the coffee machine according to how much you'll brew. Press on. Wait. Pour. Enjoy.

For espresso, fill the lower tank to the inner line with cold tap water. Insert filter and add about four tablespoons of coarse-ground coffee beans to the funnel. (It should look about 2/3 full, leaving room for expansion when the water boils.) Screw the top tightly onto the lower tank and place on a small stove top burner, set at medium-high. Put in a couple pieces of toast and by the time those are done... voila! Espresso!

SERVES SIOBHAN with no leftovers.

A few notes

• Buy coffee beans in bulk and grind only what you need to last a couple weeks. 
• Store the beans (both whole and ground) in airtight containers out of direct sunlight and temperature fluctuations. Would YOU like to hang out in your freezer? Neither do your coffee beans.
• Dunkin Donuts coffee is gross, mmmkay?
• Buy a Bialetti espresso pot and a few cups with saucers (great prices and selection at World Market)
• I keep a percolator and french press on hand, too. More on those later.