Saturday, July 03, 2010

Taste "good to the very last drop"!

How many of you can remember that commercial for Maxwell House coffee that had a single drop of coffee coming out of the cup? The announcer would say...."Good to the very last drop!"
I rarely drink coffee. I love the smell of it, before, during and after brewing. For me, the smell of coffee is a comfort thing that brings back very fond memories of my childhood. As a little girl, when I stayed at my Uncle George's house he would take me down to the grocery store and would get a bag of fresh ground coffee. Mmmmmm......that smell........I loved it then and I still do to this very day. Waking up in the morning and going downstairs to the kitchen where Aunt Cecilia would be brewing coffee with the coffee burping up to the little glass cap on top of the peculator while the bread was toasting in the electric toaster with the sides that came down. I remember it like it was yesterday rather than fifty years ago. That smell of coffee will always be a good one in my memory. My Aunt Cecilia and Uncle George always kept their brown bag of coffee in the fridge and my mom and dad and my Grams did the same. And we all know the expression....Monkey see....monkey do. So that is why I have done the same for all these years. Up to this past Christmas our coffee usually came in a can rather than a little brown bag. Once in a while Hubby John would want a bag of fresh ground coffee, but mostly when we needed to restock our supply, we bought a can when it was on sale. Regardless of can or bag, once we got it home, into the fridge or freezer it went. Imagine my surprise then, when I read on MSN news that I shouldn't have been doing that. It seems that it was the worse possible thing I could do. Here is what the article had to say about this subject:
To Store Coffee Beans
The worst place: The refrigerator or freezer
Think that you're preserving freshness by stashing it in the fridge? Think again. Every time you take it out of the fridge or freezer, you expose it to fluctuating temperatures, which produces condensation. "The moisture leeches out flavor—it's like brewing a cup of coffee each time," says John McGregor, PhD, a professor in the department of food science and human nutrition at Clemson University.
Best place: Store your beans or grounds in an opaque, airtight container kept on the counter or in the pantry.

Go figure......who knew?? I am sure that coffee drinkers all over the world were boggled by this news article. But change can sometimes be a good thing don't you think?
The good thing is that I rarely buy canned coffee anymore since Hubby John and I got a new coffee brewing system as a gift from John Vincent & Sarah, this past Christmas. It takes these little pre-filled pods and brews a cup at a time. We love it. HJ can have all the coffee he can drink and I can have tea and hot chocolate or even a speciality coffee, like butter pecan flavoured or whatever, in less than a minute. I try to be green conscious while using our new pod system. After we are done using the pods I clean them out....the coffee grounds and paper filter go into our green composting bin and the plastic pod and the tin foil lid, into the blue recycling bin. The bad thing is that there are still the odd occasions where I buy a can of coffee, for large parties or family gatherings. But I promise to all my friends and family that I will try to remember to keep the can out of the cold and damp. After all, I do want the coffee to taste as good as it smells. And I do want it to taste "good till the very last drop"!

1 comment:

Tolentreasures said...

I too, keep my coffee in the fridge and actually it is still there but I need to get it out. The beans, however for the fresh ground coffee are in the cupboard. Love the pod coffee pots also, we have that at work. You have such great memories of coffee, my family did and still does drink instant....YUCK!
Have a great day!

Cathy