It should come as no suprise...

... that Matt and I like to make our own coffee. And, no I don't mean drip coffee. Nope, no thank you, not for us. Every morning Matt gets up, scoops an appropriate amount of our whole beans (which are kept in an air tight container, thank you very much) into our Breville BCG450XL Conical Burr Grinder. You see, it's all about the beans. Freshly ground beans makes all the difference. We chose the burr grinder because it grinds the beans much more evenly.  While all this is going on, purified water is boiling in our old percolator. I don't really think there is a reason behind us using the percolator to boil water (compared to say, I don't know, a pot and stove) except for the fact that's how we used to make coffee, and when we graduated to the French press, Matt was living in his fraternity house and didn't have easy access to the stove? Or because we are never ones to let something go to waste and it's a lot easier to pour the water into the press from the percolator spout? I don't know, not my deal. When all is said and done, the ground beans go into the press, water is poured on top, etc. etc. etc. Of course, there is technique to it all, but that's kinda like grandma's super secret recipe. I'm not going to share. Actually, I can't share because it's more like Matt's super secret recipe.

Back to the topic at hand though. Throughout our relationship our coffee brewing techniques have evolved. First there was the percolator, then came the French press, and now introducing the Moka pot! I have to admit that for the longest time I thought it was a 'mocha pot' but I shortly realized my bad. For awhile we've wanted to make our own lattes, espressos, cappuccinos, etc. but didn't want to shell out the money for an at home barista set. And honestly, we didn't even really want one because they seem to be way more work than benefit, and the espresso, is it even that good? So after doing some research Matt settled for the Moka pot (which doesn't exactly produce espresso, but something very similar.)

We are still getting use to the Moka pot. We are having a hard time getting our stove and the Moka pot to work together -- the water heats up either too quickly or way too slowly. But we're getting there. Another issue we've run into is we opted for the larger pot because we figured with all those dinner parties we are sure to be hosting in our new apartment we'll want to make sure we are able to make enough to share. The only problem? Due to the physics behind it all, you have to make a whole pot every time. This leaves Matt and me a whole lot of really strong coffee. And for as much as we love coffee, we're not in college any more, and have no desire to participate in the caffeine challenge (how much coffee can you consume in 1 day?). This means we don't practice with the Moka pot very often.

But when we do, look at what we get to consume:

Let me point out we also bought a milk frother to go along with our Moka pot. I mean after all, what is espresso like coffee without steamed and frothed milk? These lattes were especially delicious as they included a tablespoon of granulated sugar as well as a shot of coffee liquor.