Articles tagged “coffee”
Mindfulness at a coffeeshop with a press pot emphasis
Tuesday, 5 May, 2009 — coffee mindfulness
I finally made it to Chapel Hill’s 3Cups for coffee this afternoon and it was a wonderful experience. I picked from a nice list of coffees, the staff was able to explain what I might like, based on stated roast preference (dark), and served it in a press pot with a timer. The second timer in the photo was for @5by5’s pot of chamomile tea, which was also incredibly tasty.
I chose a two-cup pot of Dolok Sanggul from Sumatra, which the tasting notes describe as “earthy” with spices and “hints of green peppers.” Perhaps it’s overly fussy, but I am interested in tasting some of the different flavors in my coffee. Tasting notes are a reminder to mindfully drink the coffee and enjoy it for itself rather than absently consume it.
Since it seems like everyone gets press pots or their own drip filters per order, the coffee is the absolute freshest you can have. Most places with large drip pots, including some of my favorite Raleigh shops, brew new every 60 to 90 minutes, and that’s pretty good. But if it’s fresh ground – and the grind for this was very coarse and almost springy – it’s encouragement to not load the coffee with milk or sugar but taste it strictly on its own merits. As fresh as other shops brew coffee, I’m not taking the time to slow down and pay sole attention to the coffee itself. It’s good, but I’m not focused on it.
Some other observations:
- 3Cups does coffee tastings every Saturday at noon. I marked a session on the calendar, if only to broaden my experience in tasting different coffees.
- I use a fairly coarse grind on my burr grinder and I’ve been very satisfied with the results. 3Cups’ grind seemed coarser still, with more ribbons and strands of bean. Again, it was springy against the plunger.
- I was also surprised at the amount of coffee 3Cups put in the press pot. About half again as much as I typically use, but I’ll try a coarser grind and more coffee and see what I think.
Anyhow, I’m on vacation and I made a long list of tasks I wanted to accomplish during the week. What I didn’t have on the list was drinking coffee as a solitary task. But, for about half-an-hour, that’s what I did, drank and savored coffee, relishing the experience with my wife.