How to Brew The Best Tasting Coffee

You don't have to go to Starbucks, Peet's or Tully's to get a good cup of coffee. With the proper tools and recipe, you can brew coffee that tastes great in your own home. Brewing great coffee is part art and part science.

Excerpts from "How to Brew Great Tasting Coffee."

Key Items for Great Tasting Coffee include:

Coffee:

• Use FRESH Beans!
• Limit exposure to oxygen, light, heat and mositure.
• Buy only as much coffee as you’ll need in a week
• Grind just before brewing
• Store beans in an airtight container kept in a cool, dark, dry place.

Equipment: Clean and Calibrated

• Recommended Coffee making Tools

Grind:

• FRESH! Grind beans just before brewing
• Use a fine grind for short brewing processes (drip)
• Use a coarse grind for long processes such as percolated (not recommended)

Storage:

• Brewed coffee should be used right away or transfered to an airtight thermal carafe
• "Cooking" the brewed coffee on a hot plate to keep it warm in an open glass container should be avoided.. This rules out most low cost coffee makers.

Water:

• Use fresh, impurity-free water (filtered) water
• Heat water temperature to just off a boil (195°-205° F)
• If the water is too hot, then bitter oils are extracted from the bean.
• If the water is too cold, then not enough of the good oils are extracted from the beans.

FRESH!

• Did I mention using FRESH beans ground just before use?

More at "How to Brew Great Tasting Coffee"

New World Order: School1977 vs. SCHOOL 2007

Times have surely changed and if you didn't live back in the sixties and seventies you missed a lot of good living!

SCHOOL 1977 vs. SCHOOL 2007

Scenario: Jack goes duck hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1977 - Vice principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his own shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lockdown, the Feds and ATF are called, Jack is hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors are called in to assist traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1977 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007- Police are called, SWAT team arrives and arrests Johnny and Mark. They are charged with assault and both are expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't sit still in class, disrupts other students.
1977 - Jeffrey is sent to the principal's office and given a good paddling. Re turns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra district funding because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1977 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has an affair with the psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some Aspirin to school.
1977 - Mark shares Aspirin with the school principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high-school English.
1977 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by local human rights group. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that making English a requirement for graduation is racist. Lawyers file class action lawsuit against the public school system and Pedro's English teacher. English is banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover 4th of July firecrackers, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up an anthill.
1977 - Ants die.
2007 – FBI are called and Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. They investigate his parents, siblings are removed from the home, computers are confiscated, and Johnny's dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls during recess and scrapes his knee. His teacher, Mary, finds him crying, and gives him a hug to comfort him.
1977 - Johnny soon feels better and goes back to playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in federal prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy.

So The Next Time You Hear Those 3 Little Words "New World Order" Remember Then and Now !

30 years from Now who Knows what it will be like ???

(I found this unattributed piece on an internet message board. If you know who wrote it, then please post that in the comments.)