How I do coffee (or prove I’ve become a coffee snob)

Start by boiling a pot of water. You can do this in the microwave but the stove-top method gives you enough time to prep the rest.

You must grind the coffee beans just prior to brewing. You won't notice the difference until you try pre-ground beans and freshly roasted and ground in close proximity. You'll never go back. This Breville is a burr grinder...get a burr grinder if you can. French press coffee is prone to 'sludge' at the bottom of the cup. A burr grinder will create less sludge. Some people write about rocks and dust...you'll see.

The Bodum coffee press is my favorite...ok, I haven't tried another brand but these work well. The Ikea Volym vacuum flask works great if you're not going to drink the whole pot (or any of it) right away. I can put the whole pot in the flask and take it to work.

If you want bad coffee, stop reading now. Otherwise, get yourself some great beans. We buy our beans freshly roasted right at our favorite coffee shop in NE Portland. The Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Idido Misty Valley is a special bean from a special process and is not something you'll find everyday. I highly recommend it...especially in a macchiato. It makes great French press, too. Anyway, this is a whole bean coffee, not ground at the store...it's ground at home...once the water is ready.

I use about 3/4 cups of beans for a full 8-cup (4 US cups) Bodum French press.

Load the beans into your grinder.

Inexpensive coffee grinders have no settings. I originally thought my grinder was ridiculous...I'm becoming more of a coffee snob every day. I turn my grinder basket 7 clicks from the Align marker, ignoring the presets. Note this is a course grind.

Thought I could start and stop the grinder manually, this sucker will stop 21 seconds after it starts. I've noticed that the grind sometimes takes more or less time depending on the beans. I'm not sure why that is yet. I'll have to ask....

I start the grinder once the water is boiling...not before. You have to smell the freshly ground coffee. If you have good beans and you like coffee, this is an amazing thing to smell. Plus, you will learn to discern good beans from bad beans. I'm beginning to know when my beans are too old to make awesome coffee just by the aroma.

Pour the ground coffee into the press pot.

Set a timer for four minutes. I'm not kidding. FOUR.

Pour the water into the pot. I've found a lot of writings about how fast or slow to pour the water. I don't have this figured out yet. Pour the damned water in but don't overfill and don't worry about the bloom (beer drinkers...this is the 'head'). We'll deal with that.

About 90 seconds into the brewing, feel free to stir the coffee gently and pour more water into the press pot to fill it to the top.

Remember...the timer will let you know when 90 seconds is here. I couldn't shoot the clock at the right time because I was brewing my coffee. 2:22 is a cool time, though.

There's nothing more to do now except wait. Put the lid on the press pot but DON'T push it down yet! When the timer goes off (and not much later than that), press down the plunger slowly and carefully. It is possible for the coffee to spurt out. This rarely seems to happen if the coarseness of the grind is right and I've stirred the pot once during the brew.

A nice, clean, pretty cup waiting for amazing coffee.

Yum. I do like a little turbinado sugar and a splash of half-and-half in my coffee. However, I believe that truly good coffee doesn't NEED anything. If you choose to add accoutrements, that's fine...but it shouldn't need them.