Now I have spent most of my life being a major tea drinker. Dad would constantly go and make pots of tea and from an early age I loved tea; strong, no sugar and just scare it with the milk. Mum preferred coffee but as children we were not allowed coffee. Mum loved Nescafe, which in the 1970’s was pretty much the only sort of coffee in the UK. What do I mean by that, well, instant coffee, of which Nescafe was the brand leader, was king (or should that be queen, coffee always seems female to me). There had been coffee shops in the 1950’s but by the 1970’s “proper” coffee was quite a rarity on the high street, especially outside of London.
However, by the time I was of an age to really appreciate a good coffee Starbucks had started its’ march round the world and others followed in its’ wake. When I am out by choice I will find a Caffe Nero shop, I find Starbucks too weak and if there is no alternative to it then I always ask for an extra shot. When I visited mum and dad I would try Nescafe but instant coffee is as different from “proper” coffee as a Linda McCartney banger is from a pork sausage. `now I have tried French Press coffee, okay but not what I am looking for even though it is far better than instant. I bought a marvellous Krupps coffee machine that makes flask coffee and even coffee shop coffee, it has its’ own steamer/frother attached. However, it was still not quite what I was looking for and then I remembered going round an Italian friends house years ago and he made coffee with a stove top pot.
Bingo, I had found my favourite way to prepare coffee. I got a Bialetti Moka Express pot from amazon.co.uk, beans from Angelucci’s coffee shop in Soho (where else? Well okay East Finchley now but don’t be so pedantic. In fact Angelucci’s might well be another entry) and my old stove, which frankly I only keep for two things coffee and fry-ups. The only thing that was still a pain was the frothing as I still had to use the Krupps for that task but then I found out about the Bodum Milk Frother. Sheer genius! To operate fill with cold milk to the level, out in the microwave on full blast for about 90 seconds, take out and mash the plunger furiously, which almost doubles the volume of the milk and then add to your coffee for a perfect latte.
It is a pure and simple joy but this is the most fun you can have in five minutes. Well, okay perhaps not but you all have filthy minds. Now go and put the stove on and make your self a coffee. Oh and you could check out the Wikipedia entry on Moka.