C-c-c-coffee

Well for those of you who may not know, I am trying to curb my coffe intake, and I am not doing half bad. I am picky about my hot teas so I pretty much stick to ginger tea (Just grated from the root in a pot of hot water). But every now and the, mostly when hubby is off from work, I will have a few cups with him.


But with him being Cuban, he is hooked on Cuban coffe, more fondly referred to as espresso to those who frequent Starbucks and the such. But do not think I have some fancy schmancy espresso machine, oh no no no. I have one that could have come from the days of the caveman. Ungowa (that is for those of you who use to watch Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan).


My husbands cousins aunt sister...you get my meaning. Was moving back to Texas and had a house full of things to get rid of. In steps the cooking lady and you instantly have a garage sale. But before we set up house (no pun intended) we rummaged through to see if there was anything that interested us, and there was plenty. But we did not keep more than we sold, so we are good to go.

What we did find was this little gem.






This was probably used in the time of my grandmother. If you look to the left, that is your reservoir (where you place the cold water), which you actually place in the receptacle all the way to the right(the thing with the handle), it is portable. You fill that with water, for the coffee will fill back up in to there, so it just makes sense. You unscrew the little black knob on the receptacle on the left, pour in your water and replace the empty receptacle where the coffee will come back into.

You will see in thee upper right hand part of this implement a handle that stick out horizontally. That is a piece of the machine that is also removable. You pull it to the left and it pops down. That is where you put your coffe. Now, if you have never seen coffe ground for espresso, then you are in for a treat. It is nearly the consistency of flour. It is nearly as fine as talc. Weird to look at when you are used to regular coffee. You spoon in enough to fill it, but you also have to pack it a bit. Not like some mad woman, but you still pat down your coffee.

You slide the apparatus back into place and THEN you add some sugar to the part where the coffee will be brewing into. 2-4 tablespoons, depending on how sweet you like it. So now you are ready for action.

Put the section that houses the water over your element. Turn the burner on to high. Oh yeah, don't forget to put back on and tighten the part that covers the water, or you will have water spewing everywhere. You will begin to hear the water boiling, but this is where the fun begins. The water goes through the tunnel (could not think of a better word) and through the coffee and down into the catcher thingy. The hot coffee melts the sugar and you will begin to hear the water slow down and Viola! You have coffee. Turn down of off the heat and slide the warming tray over to the main section of the element and you are good to go.

Stir the coffee and sugar and serve in a shot glass. Actually it's not a shot glass, but traditional coffee cups for Cuban coffee. You can get them in any store in all of South Florida, but up north may prove difficult. Serve it anywhere from half to full and go for it.

Now, many folks are under thee impression that espresso is more caffeinated than drip coffee. Oh so no. I watched a special on coffee on the history channel and drip coffee ash thee most caffeine out there...who knew.

How ever you like your coffe, enjoy it with someone, or if you need some time alone then go for it, but enjoy your beans.