Monday, February 23, 2009

New Press

Three french presses make up my posse. Please.

The first I got for a camping trip. It was a road trip, really. A month long tour of the northwest put me in my place. I moved here first.

The second was left for me, a glass number, by my friend Sean Price, when when he went off to Europe to follow his dream of becoming an international peacekeeping. And to follow love. I heard he's back delivering mail in Corvalis. Love letters to others from no one he knows. I don't think I met Sean.

The difference between theses two presses: the camping one was plastic and taller. The glass piece was short but had the same circumference. Why is this important?

For some reason I lost the screen for the first. The screen is important--it presses the grind down making the coffee cleanly. Without the wire sifter you are pressing down a shaft into your muddy water. I put the whole think in the cabinet and concentrating on the the shorter, glass press. Which is nice.

The glass beaker to this--your second press--rests in a metal cradle with the lid and press part separate. It cleans better than the first because of this, it's glass and comes apart from it's base. I made a lot of coffee continuously. Tightened many screws.

But then something tragic happened. While I was cleaning it one morning. I thought cleaning was easier with this one. I was at the trash bin--metal and modern-- and tapping the glass beaker to get out the rest of the grinds, stuck there on the bottom from yesterday's brew. The metal connected with the glass or the glass the metal. The thing crack. Glass broke off, even. I ended up dropping the whole thing into the can. That's sad.

I was crushed. I went to the cabinet having forgotten about the missing piece to my carafe. When I remembered I tried various combinations: plastic carafe with the glasses lid. Too short the shaft to effectively press. I had the grind but nothing to make coffee in. How bout the screen, at least? I detached the metal screen from the lid of the press that broke. I tried to attach it to the shaft to no avail. Metal and plastic don't make good mates.

Determinded I put the kettle on the burner. I put beans in the grinder and crushed em til they were find. Dropping the grind into the plastic beaker, I waited for the water to boil. I had a plan.

When I mixed the heated water with the grind below there was a confluence of wet and dry. The muddy water you were talking about. But hot. Like lava.

I decided to put the disc like screen on top and the bubbling quelled. With the plastic base of the press I pushed down the loose screen and with it the whole thing down. I was able to drink coffee again. But this act every time?

Then I got a gift. I opened up the box: a press. What's this, cords? Lids? It's so big...