[for those coming late to the party:
http://www.cigarbid.com/...geDisplay=0000000092535 So I tried the infamous “coffee whose beans were partially digested and then pooped out by some sort of wildcat” beverage this morning... Lots to say about it, so let’s take it chronologically.
The day started with my 17-month-old son waking up at 5:15 a.m. and demanding breakfast. So while he continued his months-long kitchen remodel project (he’s redoing the floors and countertops in milk-dried Cheerios – looks really good so far), I prepped for the Great Coffee Experiment.
My boy was joined by another witness in the form of our 8-year-old cat, Maggie (why not, she might be an expert, right?), as I got the water boiling (French-press is my preferred brewing method). Got out the coffee grinder (which was cleaned last night, in anticipation). Carefully opened the Zip-Loc bag o’ beans: very fragrant smelling, with a sort of a roasted barley aroma.
So far, so good.
I set the grinder for “coarse,” dropped in the beans, hit the start button – then was startled when almost instantly three things happened: 1) the grinder turned out to be MUCH, MUCH louder than I remembered, 2) the cat TORE out of the kitchen with fluffed tail, and 3) my son screamed in terror and spit up.
Here we were only a moment into this process and already there was vomiting – and a cat who had the $h!t scared out of her (or, if you prefer, the “coffee” scared out of her?).
After settling everyone down and some quick cleanup, I added 4 rounded tablespoons of the now coarsely ground coffee to the press, slowly poured 16 ounces of very hot water over the grounds, and stirred gently with a chopstick to bring up the bloom (yes, I read about how to do this on some coffee-geek website).
I allowed it to steep for about 4 minutes; then I plunged (insert cat-poop plunger joke here).
I poured the first cup into a pre-warmed mug, with the rest going into my travel thermos.
Brewed aroma: like good, strong coffee, with more of that vague barley scent, and a little bit of “earthiness.” Took a sip. Tasted like it smelled (big surprise, eh?). Took a bigger sip, slurping to the point of the Cheerio Kid giggling and taking an interest in what Crazy Daddy was doing. An unusual taste, musky/earthy/barley good coffee. Nice and strong, with just a hint of bitterness. After I sipped about a third of the mug, I experimented with adding a bit of warmed whole milk and a tablespoon of sugar. DING! Excellent.
It was at this point that my sleep-deprived wife joined us in the kitchen, took a big SNIFF of the air and asked, “What’s that awful smell?” (But what the hell does she know about gourmet cat-$h!t coffee, anyway?)
Now, I don’t feel any overwhelming need to have all my coffee beans from now on picked out of the litter box, but it was a lot of fun to experiment with. I’d recommend trying it at least once if you enjoy coffee.
And if you develop some rare form of feline dysentery, I suppose drnos and I (and possibly SteveR) will all get to know each other better as co-defendants in the lawsuit.
ScottHar
