It's about more than beans

In My Glass

By Rob Kasper

December 12, 2007

With the help of Erica Hess of Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc., Rob Kasper expands his knowledge of coffee-making. (Sun photo by Doug Kapustin / December 5, 2007)

I was recently "home-schooled" in the art of making coffee. My instruction occurred in my kitchen, using my Cuisinart automatic drip coffee maker and Baltimore water. I did graduate work with the French press coffeepot.

My instructor was Erica Hess, who holds the title of coffee educator for Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc. Peet's is named after Alfred Peet, who in 1966 began roasting coffee in a small shop in Berkeley, Calif. Peet, who came to be called the grandfather of specialty coffee in America, died in September at the age of 87. Peet's Coffee is sold throughout the United States, including Whole Foods stores in Baltimore.

Hess was in Baltimore recently and I took advantage of the opportunity to have her critique my daily coffee-making routine. She showed up in my kitchen with the French press pot, a couple of bags of Peet's coffee and a sharp eye.

She quickly focused on my coffee grinder, a Maestro Classic that I use to grind whole coffee beans. I got good marks for having a grinder. You want to grind just before brewing, Hess said, because grinding releases the flavors and aromas of the beans. I also got a high grade for having a gold filter, rather than a paper filter, in my coffee maker. The gold filter allows the coffee's entire flavor to pass through, while the paper filter holds back some desirable ones, she said.

My proportions, a heaping two-tablespoon scoop of beans for each six ounces of water, passed inspection.

Hess harbored some doubts about my water. She offered to use bottled. But I wanted to use Baltimore water, the water that the mayor and City Council members keep charging us more to tap. I did filter it, drawing it from a spigot in the fridge, which has a water-cleansing feature.

I got marked down for improper bean storage. I was keeping my beans in the freezer. The teacher disapproved. Every time the beans come out of the freezer, condensation forms on them, she said. Condensation is moisture, "one of the enemies," along with air and light, of freshness, she said. A better place to store beans, she said, would be an airtight container, tucked either in the fridge or in a cool, dry and dark cupboard.

I also failed to stir the pot of coffee before serving. The first coffee that descends into the pot is stronger than the liquid that arrives later, after the grounds have been saturated, she said. Mixing the stronger part of the brew, which is on the bottom of the pot, with the slightly weaker coffee at the top of the pot, is, I learned, a grace note, the sign of a well-tutored coffee maker.

To make a pot with a French press coffee maker, I had to follow my professor's precise instructions. I brought a kettle of cold tap water to just short of boiling. The hot water was poured into the lower part of the French press. My grinder was adjusted to yield a coarser grind of coffee, which was placed in the top of the pot, known as the screen. Then, in a two-step operation, Hess pushed the screen through the hot water.

The first step was a partial plunge, with the screen pausing just below the surface of the water. She waited three minutes before completing the plunge. This method directly infuses all of the coffee grounds and yields full flavor, she said.

A few days later, when school was out, I practiced my skills, making three pots of different types of coffee in my automatic coffee maker. My report card follows.