The best part of waking up...

...is GOOD coffee in your cup. Right? I love good coffee--even if I can't drink it straight off in the morning without wanting to wrench out my intestines later in the day. That said, and some of you may already know this, we have had a very difficult time finding good coffee here in the heart of black gold country. I mean, is it like people who make hot dogs for a living or something? You make it so you don't drink the stuff? That can't be because there are set times for coffee breaks across the city. The only thing is, those unfortunate people are all drinking INSTANT. AAAAHHH (covering my eyes and cowering in horror!)

We were determined not to let this happen to us. Some of our standards have to change as we adapt to a foreign culture; but this is not an area we were willing to compromise.

So, after much research and planning, trial and error, we have arrived at a very satisfactory solution to our caffeine habit: Cold pressed coffee. (Actually, I have to credit my grandparents who have been doing this for years. It just took me awhile to figure out I could do it too.)

The beautiful aspects of this method are as follows:
1. It's just as easy as instant to prepare. You can make one cup or several at a time; make it as strong or weak as you want; make it hot or cold, etc.

2. It doesn't use any power to make, for those greeny Oregonians out there this is a great plus--for those of us in third world countries with unpredictable power outages this is a must.

3. The thick, rich coffee liqueur it produces is a beauteous thing to behold.

Oh, and I didn't have to buy a thing to get set up. (We already had a good coffee grinder.)

Here's a brief tutorial for those who've kept reading up to this point.
Grind or purchase a pound of coffee beans. Pour the ground beans into a container large enough to hold 1 1/2 gallons.


Next, slowly pour in 4 cups of cold water. Wait five minutes. After this it will look like a chocolate souffle. Gently pour in five more cups of cold water--some people even recommend ice water.


Let sit for 12 hours. After twelve hours, strain the grounds from that liquid black gold you have made. I use a fine mesh plastic strainer. The liqueur, if you can call it that, will last for two weeks in the fridge. Just add 1 part coffee to 3 parts water, more or less to taste. I think my grandparents would use 1-2 ounces in a mug of coffee.
Here is my setup: an old Tupperware container to soak everything in, a strainer, a ladle for pouring everything through the strainer, the measuring cup with all the strained grounds (headed for the flower beds), a pitcher to pour the liquid into the reused 2 liter bottle. Isn't that bottle of dark, rich liquid beautiful?