The tastiest coffee

What do you think? What is the very tastiest, home-made coffee?
Should it be ground fine, or coarse, or in-between: brewed long or short - that is to say, coffee grounds in contact with almost-boiling water for long or short time? Steeped in it or passed through? Filtered via paper, metal, simple strainer or not at all? Dampened first by steam, water, or dry?

Many and many are the coffee blogs; passionate indeed are the coffee devotees who write them.

But when push comes to shove, if you make your own coffee at home, you will have to choose a method that suits you and, above all, produces a delicious cup that is a pleasure to drink!

I am frustrated by the sites that start from the assumption that you must buy an elaborate piece of named equipment; will it be Gaggia? an Espresso machine? A Dr Strangelove device called a vacuum, or a suction or some such contraption?
Coffee existed for centuries before these devices were invented, and in fact, in its spiritual home, the Arab world, coffee is regularly made by boiling very fine grounds with water, and serving the resulting strong thick sludge in tiny cups.
So don't be swayed by advertising or snobbery, but by the trusty Tastebud Test!

Make it, drink it, do you like it? Try a different way, do you like that? Stronger, weaker, finer, smoother, sharper, sweeter?



Ideal Coffee proportions:

Water: use either 5 fl oz, or a quarter of a pint, or 150 ml, or 5/8 of an American measuring cup.

Grounds: use either 20 ml, or 1 and a half tablespoons( standard measuring spoon type) or 2 rounded dessertspoons, or one standard coffee scoop, (some brands...)


Now, believe it or not, choose any measure of coffee grounds from the list above, and any measure of liquid from the list ditto, and mix the latter, just off the boil, with the former.
(All the coffee quantities are the same. All the water measures are the same - get out your measuring jugs, and check!)
No matter what gadget you choose to brew it in, this is the mixture that you will eventually drink: Stir them together, wait three minutes, strain through a tea-strainer, or a paper filter in a cone, or invest in an automated kettle-cum-jug-cum-filtercone etc that will do the same untouched by hand. Or mix in a cafetiere when you will just push the grounds to the bottom with a wire filter. Or boil up in a percolator when the boiling water will be dripped over the grounds and circulated up a sort of central chimney.
Or instal the grounds in one section and place the water in another, depending on the gadget: usually, steam will pass through the grounds , moistening and warming them; this is supposed to bring out the flavour (and yes, it does) and the hot water or steam is then pushed through and extracts the best of the flavour. That describes espresso and the classic simple Italian upstairs-downstairs coffee pot.

Grinding: different methods require different grinding fine-ness, in theory antway. Mind you I have made excelent coffee with all sorts of variations ; no need to be TOO picky about this!
Beans: grinding your own makes a huge difference, I am bound to say. But so does the type of bean. Choose your favourite.

And so on...I welcome contributions!

More biscuits...shortbread.

The best, and worst, of home-made biscuits, and an excellent one for the beginner to train on.

The word "short" refers to the fat content, (high)

First find your recipe: and I can tell you right now that most of the common shortbread recipes are much the same; they usually recommend a 3, 2, 1 ratio of flour, butter, sugar, in that order. Typically, let's say, 9 oz of flour, 6 of butter and 3 of sugar.
The butter is rubbed into the flour with your hands until amalgamated into a rich sandy mixure: the sugar is added, and the whole mass squeezed together until it forms a dough.
You may find this process frustratingly dry but DO NOT ADD LIQUID! Keep kneading, and your warm hands will bring it together into a smooth ball of dough eventually.
(If your dough has got too sticky/greasy in the kneading, you can lay it aside, or chill it, for a while, and the dough will firm up.

Usually this will be pressed out into a tin, or rolled and cut. Don't make it too thin or it will burn. And don't make it too thick or it will be dreary chewing. (Not thinner than a 2 euro coin, probably not thicker than about 7 mm, is the best I can suggest.)

Check the temperature of the oven: most recipes say something like "a moderate oven, about 350 F or 180C"- this is too high!

Bake slowly at about 325F or 160C and start checking at 9 minutes, then 11 minutes, then 13 etc.
Don't let them brown, a light suntan towards the edges is enough.
How much heat could it take to cook a bit of flour that thin? how long for a pancake on a pan, by way of comparison?
The sugar and butter are edible raw anyway, you're only cooking the flour - don't overdo it!

Remove and cool promptly - sprinkle with caster sugar. Done!
Very, very plain biscuits - there are many improvements possible, you bet. But more of that anon.