Coffee: How to Make it the Mountain Studios Way

There are two types of people in the world (or perhaps I should say, two types of coffee drinkers in the world): those who drink great coffee and those who think they do. The latter tend to be more of the addicted-I-need-it-now-and-will-drink-any-coffee-type, while the former tend to be more of the coffee-connoisseur type. Now, I'm not here to mock the former group—a group of people who would be quite hurt and upset if I told them that Tim Horton's or Smitty's (or insert name of chain restaurant here) coffee just doesn't cut it. So I won't do that. Instead, I'd like to present a better way of making a great cup of coffee, professionally and artistically. (Because life is just too short to drink bad coffee.)

The Ingredients

Making a cup of coffee requires essentially just two ingredients: great beans and great water. If you mess up on either of these two, you won't get the perfect cup.

So let's start with the beans:

• always buy whole beans, roasted within 10 days or less, and grind them just before you brew your cup
• buy good beans, not the cheap no-name grocery variety (try a local roaster and expect to pay at least $12 or more per pound—here are some other suggestions: Kicking Horse Coffee, Just Us Coffee)

There is much more that could be said about the coffee itself, but let's leave it at that. Next, the water:

• if you use bad water, either well-water or city-water, expect poor results
• always use 100% pure water (either distilled or purified by reverse osmosis) note: most bottled water is not pure (besides, bottled water is bad for the environment, but let's leave that for another post)

The Process

• boil water in a kettle
• in the meantime, grind your beans using a good coffee bean grinder—to a coarse grind
• use 1 tablespoon per 4 or 5 oz of water
• pour the measured coffee into the bottom of your French Press
• once the water is just off the boil, pour it into the French Press
• stir it a few times to create a nice bloom on top
• set your timer for 4 minutes
• enjoy a great cup of coffee!