Guest Author - Gayle E. Santana
One of the reasons I like to have my coffee at home is because when you leave the coffee making up to someone else, well it’s kind of like Forrest Gump’s take on chocolate and life. Forrest says, "Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you gonna get". For my first cup of the day, most often my only cup of the day, I like to know precisely what I’m going to get.
The Cup
With the super-sizing of America in regard to portions, your cup of coffee is not immune. I have three different sized coffee cups in my home so I decided to measure them. Remember I am not a scientist so please forgive me if I’m a little off.
•The normal handled coffee cup that I drink from, which generally comes with a saucer, holds eight ounces of liquid when full.
•The average mug, which most people use these days, holds about 1 1/3 cups of liquid.
•The huge cups that have become popular these days, which actually look a bit cartoonish in my opinion, hold a whopping 2 ˝ cups of liquid. Please remember this when telling yourself, “but I only drink one cup a day!”
The Coffee
While I have used whole beans and ground them myself or have had wonderful gourmet coffees, my normal day begins with store-bought ground unflavored coffee.
The Coffee Maker
I have a programmable coffee maker that makes one cup as well as it can make 12. In my experience, some coffee makers do not make small amounts of coffee very well.
The Recipe
•2 level tablespoons of ground coffee (I use a coffee measuring scoop)
•Bottled water (I use Poland Springs because I like the taste). Pour water enough up to the 2-cup line on the coffee maker
•1 pinch of powdered cinnamon (although I use more than a pinch). Mix the cinnamon into the grounds a bit.
Start the coffee maker.
Coffee Whitener
I use evaporated milk to whiten my coffee. I like the creaminess of evaporated milk without the cholesterol of cream. This is as far as my concession to health goes where my coffee is concerned. Black coffee or coffee with skim is not coffee worth having for me personally, but to each his/her own. I like at least 2 tablespoons of the evaporated milk but will pour a little more when not measuring.
Sweetener
None! I do not like sugar or any type of sweetener in my coffee. This includes artificial sweeteners or sweetened creamers. Unsweetened coffee is just something I have acquired a taste for.
Temperature
With all that milk, it sometimes cools down the coffee a bit too much so I generally pop it into the microwave for 15 seconds.
Voila! This is a perfect cup of coffee, at least for me, and it always makes me smile.
