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Before I was married, all of my coffee was had late at night at the local coffee shop, and was usually accompanied by a good amount of studying (intermingled with glances toward the door to see if my then-crush-now-husband was stopping in that night, but that’s another story). When I married said crush, I came into a family that was quite nearly addicted to the stuff. Their addiction was unique though, in that they took their coffee very seriously and demanded only the very best. I quickly realized that if I was to survive as a Becker I was going to have to learn what good coffee was and how to make it. The old Folgers drippy stuff wasn’t going to cut it (if you are content with Folgers, I praise you, as your coffee budget is probably considerably smaller than mine. Don’t let that go.)

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Every once in a while, someone will ask me how I manage to do crafty stuff with a toddler underfoot (it’s usually the cashier at JoAnn Fabrics). This brings to mind a few things. First of all, do they think that kids never sleep? Second, have they seen my apartment? If they saw how frequently I shirked my chores in favor of having fun with sewing or whatever, they’d not be so surprised at my crafting purchases. And then I think of the coffee that is usually integral in getting me from the 1:00 hour to the 3:00 hour.

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So here is my favorite way to enjoy coffee at home now. We were given a stove-top espresso maker last year for Christmas. It’s not even a Bialetti, it’s just a little Laroma that looks kind of funny now that I’ve put it through the dishwasher too many times (dishwasher+aluminum=funny finish). But it works well for us. So, in goes the water, and in goes the freshly ground espresso (we get the san francisco stuff from Costco – we think it’s quite decent), ground just a touch finer than the Folgers stuff, and the top gets screwed on tightly. Because I am not as strong as my husband, I require sugar and cream in my coffee. I recently discovered that if you put the cream and sugar in the top of the espresso pot (so that the brewed espresso falls down onto it and steams it a bit) it blends the flavors a little better and gives the sugar a slight carmelized taste. Once it’s done brewing, I stir it a bit in the pot so that all the sugar gets dispersed, and into my little cup it goes. At this point I generally sit down and watch 45 minutes or so of TV (abc.com and cbs.com – all the TV without the cable bill!) to regroup and enjoy my coffee.

Those little shiny bits swirling around the top of the coffee? That’s the oils. Oily might be a bad thing for your skin but it’s absolutely fantastic for coffee.

yum.