I am a coffee snob. Dee and I both are. We are addicted to coffee…strong coffee…strong Starbuck’s coffee. We do enjoy strong coffee from other coffee shops, but we just can’t really enjoy most restaurant coffee. It tastes weak and watered down. The problem is Starbucks is expensive and we live on a pretty tight budget. The solution, most of the time, is we have a couple good friends that work at Starbucks that give us lots of coffee. They know our favorite kinds and regularly ask the state of our supply. This is what you call a hook-up! Thank you Christy and Ali!!
But sometimes, we do run out of our Starbucks stash, we don’t want to pay so much at the store, but just can’t stomach something like Folger’s. (It hurts me just to write that name.) So, this has been the solution during these times.
Since our preference is pretty bold coffee and other countries are known for having better coffee than the States anyway, Dee perused the international aisle at the grocery store and found this espresso. We brew this in a French Press with a few modifications since it’s espresso.
- Wrap a coffee filter around the bottom of the plunger.
- Put the espresso in the bottom of the French Press. We use the same amount of this as we do coffee – 1 T. per cup.
- Use hot but not scalding/boiling water. (It’s technically supposed to be no more than 180 degrees, but we don’t measure this. We boil the water in a kettle and then leave it off the burner for a minute or two.)
- Pour the water over the espresso and stir.
- Immediately but slowly plunge. This is the big difference. Espresso, since it’s ground so fine, doesn’t need a lot of brew time. It results in a low-acid coffee.
- Pour, add cream and sugar if desired and enjoy!
It really does meet our snobby standard and we don’t whine as much when we run out of Starbucks. And for less than $4, that’s a great deal!
This post is being shared at Women Living Well, We Are That Family, The Better Mom, Life as Mom and Crystal & Co.
