Mas Sabor!
David Wronski shares . . . (yet again)
Early on when I lived in pre-fashionable (i.e., affordable) Park Slope in Brooklyn, New York, the local bodega featured Bustelo and El Pico coffees. Both, dark espresso roast, fine grinds.
The Melitta filter "Pour Over" was the preferred brewing method and we always added a shot of either of those coffees to our Chock Full of Nuts Colombian to give it a boost. Or, as the gentleman so often heard vigorously rolling his R's on the radio would growl machisimo . . . "Mas Sabor-r-r!"
Nowadays, after the Starbucks revolution has adjusted our taste toward the darker beans, we have discovered that brewing our Morning Joe 100% Bustelo is not only great but economic too.
Our current brewing method is the coffee sock. Three coffee scoops of Bustelo to 24 ounces/3 Cups of pure water. Bring water to boil in a pot, add Bustelo, let sit 5 minutes. Strain through a coffee sock*. Enjoy. We also like Whole Foods Pacific Rim Organic coffee, straight or with a shot of the espresso roast. But, in a pinch, we went 100% Bustelo; and, that dog hunts.
* A coffee sock is a pure cotton bag sewn onto a plastic or metal ring with a built in handle. Unlike most procedures you will find on a search (pour boiling water over dried grounds as in the "Pour Over" approach), we employ the "Cowboy Coffee" method. That is, adding the ground coffee to the pot of boiling water, letting it steep then straining it through the coffee sock. You get a stonger cup of coffee this way. Supposedly the bag will gain flavor as it darkens with repeated use. Also, the lore is that for the original on-the-trail version the cowpoke would use his** hat to steep the grounds.
** No sexism intended, just going back to a time when men were men, and cowboys were boys. Save your critcal comments on that, please.
(Trivial Point: Did you ever notice the big can of Bustelo sitting on the kitchen counter in all the Two and a Half Men TV show episodes?)
