Caffeine, How I Love Thee!

Caffeine, how I love thee! Let me count the ways!

Most of the flavor that you get from coffee comes from volatile oils that the beans contain. The problem with volatile oils is that they're volatile; in other words, they dissolve / evaporate / degrade when they come into contact with heat / air.

This, btw, is why coffee made in a percolator smells so good (all the volatile oils are evaporating into the ether) and tastes so flat ("all the oils go bye bye!")

Since Christmas, I've been making my coffee in a french press, a personal travel press from Starbucks. (Yes, a gift from my dear wife.) I'm using the same brand and grind of coffee that I always use.

But I've noticed a flavor in the press coffee that I don't find in drip coffee; apparently it's one of those volatile oils. Because of the differing amounts of heat and air involved, this particular oil evaporates in drip coffee but not in press coffee. (I've also found that particular taste in cold brewed coffee, such as coffee from a Toddy Coffee maker.)

The flavor in question is a very rich, molasses or liquorice-y taste; dark and subtle, not overpowering. It gives the coffee a complex kind of sweetness that drip coffee with sugar doesn't have. DARN good.

And unless you use a press or cold brew your coffee, you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Monday: A Summary

Here's what I did today:

• Graded a TON of papers: seriously, I graded papers for at least six hours today, and I'm not done;
• Made phone calls;
• Set up an interview; we're hiring at least two new profs, and I set up the travel arrangements, etc., for one of the candidates;
• Ate a crappy lunch in the KCU cafeteria;
• Went to the bank and signed a paper;
• Gassed up the KCU car that I drove to Columbus last night;
• Make more phone calls;
• Got sleepy.

OK, so here's what I did. I was sleepy, all afternoon logy, so I made coffee in my french press. I was SO FREAKING DESPERATE for the caffeine that, instead of creaming and sugaring it in a cup like I normally do, I just drank it black, straight out of the spout of the french press.

I'm allowed to do that, right? Drink coffee directly out of my french press, with no implements or dishes between? Does anyone else do that? If so, do they sugar (and cream?) it in the press?

Anyway. My headache's gone, and I think I can manage to stay awake for at least one more hour.

More papers to grade. Eesh.