Coffee in the TEOTWAWKI

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I have made dandelion root coffee and I liked it better than straight chicory coffee. Preparing the dandelion roots was too much work though.

Believe it or not, we have more nettles naturally growing than dandelions.
 
The husband drinks a pot or two a day and likes the Community coffee. I will drink about anything that resembles coffee. Instant, expresso, coffee left over from the day before.

I've been curious about just straight chicory: heard about the acorns but worry that the tannins would get me (certain red wines give me a headache) and never heard of dandelions being used. Interesting.
Daily Community coffee drinker here, too!
 
I actually had decent success growing a couple of coffee plants in a pot where I could monitor the soil conditions better. Put it outside in the spring, bring it inside by the south windows when it got cold. Then, came this summer. I was away for a week when the 110's hit and the sun burned it to a crisp. Cut it back but don't hold out much hope of it coming back. Time will tell.
 
There is a coffee species, Coffea stenophylla, that was thought to be extinct, but has been rediscovered in the wild in Sierra Leone. There is already one company marketing the coffee. At one time it was commercially successful, but it has lower yields then rubusta or arabica and fell out of favor for that reason. Now that much of the prime coffee growing land in the world has been developed for human habitation or more profitable crops, there is a lot of interest in Coffea stenophylla because it can grow in a much warmer climate than arabica, and at lower altitudes, which will open up new areas for coffee growing. Quite possibly some places in the Continental US.
It is said to be as good or better than arabica.
 
There is a coffee species, Coffea stenophylla, that was thought to be extinct, but has been rediscovered in the wild in Sierra Leone. There is already one company marketing the coffee. At one time it was commercially successful, but it has lower yields then rubusta or arabica and fell out of favor for that reason. Now that much of the prime coffee growing land in the world has been developed for human habitation or more profitable crops, there is a lot of interest in Coffea stenophylla because it can grow in a much warmer climate than arabica, and at lower altitudes, which will open up new areas for coffee growing. Quite possibly some places in the Continental US.
It is said to be as good or better than arabica.

I got Arabicas have to see if I can find stenophylla

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Americans and their coffee!!!ha!ha!ha!
Americans? We're not even close to consuming the highest amount of coffee per capita. We barely made the top 25
Rank​
Country​
Coffee Consumption (Lbs per Person Per Year)​
1Finland26.45
2Norway21.82
3Iceland19.84
4Denmark19.18
5Netherlands18.52
6Sweden18
7Switzerland17.42
8Belgium15
9Luxembourg14.33
10Canada14.33
11Bosnia and Herzegovina13.67
12Austria13.45
13Italy13
14Brazil12.79
15Slovenia12.79
16Germany12.13
17Greece11.9
18France11.9
19Croatia11.24
20Cyprus10.8
21Lebanon10.58
22Estonia9.92
23Spain9.92
24Portugal9.48
25United States9.26
 
Looks very similar to a Guardian Ware. Sold in Tupperware type parties in the 30s,40’s, 50’s. This would be an example of a 40’s+ because it has a glass lid.
View attachment 17203
When I was at flea market this past weekend looking for used ball mason jars, one of the vendors had one of these Guardian Ware pots. It didn't have a price on it and the woman who had the booth was wrapped up talking to others, so I didn't get a chance to ask about it. I see on ebay they have them ranging in price from $20's up to around $50, but seems like a lot of trouble to make a pot of coffee in them. Does the coffee made in them make it worth having?
 
It's just a percolator. I remember when that was the way almost everyone made coffee. There is a reason percolators fell out of favor.


Yes. It's cheaper and slower than any capsule system which brings Nestle a lot of money. And it's not so cool as an new push-button-app-coffee-thingy every months.
BTW - in Italy, Southern France and the southern part of Switzerland those Bialetti perculators are still in daily use.
 
In Europe the Moka Pot might be called a "percolator" but it is the opposite of what we call a percolator. The Moka Pot pushes hot water up one time through the coffee under pressure. A percolator (what we call a "percolator" anyhow) showers water on top of the coffee repeatedly and gravity feeds it down through the coffee.

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When I was at flea market this past weekend looking for used ball mason jars, one of the vendors had one of these Guardian Ware pots. It didn't have a price on it and the woman who had the booth was wrapped up talking to others, so I didn't get a chance to ask about it. I see on ebay they have them ranging in price from $20's up to around $50, but seems like a lot of trouble to make a pot of coffee in them. Does the coffee made in them make it worth having?
My wife picked up a couple in the $20 dollar range. You have to be sure you have all the parts. This an example cleaned up/as normally found which brings the price up.
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I think the coffee is your average percolator coffee. The sales pitch back in the day was probably “It brews right into your serving pitcher“.
I know there was specific recipes for cooking in other pots. We tried corn on the cob cooked in a 1/4 cup of water. It turned out very well.
Added with edit: this was very high end cookware at the time. Beautiful when cleaned up. What perked my interest was low amount of water In the recipes. I could care less about the horse trading she does with it.
 
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It's just a percolator. I remember when that was the way almost everyone made coffee.
I still have and use a percolator from the 60's with a porcellan connector and it makes better coffee than any other machine I have. My emailiert coffee percolator for a gas or wood flame is the second best I have for post-SHTF situations.....
 
Here is a picture of my coffee makers.
On the left is my "turkish" pot that my MIL brought to Germany back in 1971 when my wifes family moved to Germany and she used it till shortly before she died at the age of 91 and we inherited it and still use it when the serbian or croatian guests make a request for such coffee.
The second one is my Italian espresso pot from 1984 that I got right before getting out of the Army and it is used for the special requests or when camping, but only over a gas or electric fire since the aluminim gets very black and is hard to clean afterwards. Next to it is the little brother for making single cups if you are alone.
The middle is the typical electric coffee maker with a filter on top, a water tank in the back and insulated pot on the bottom which is almost used daily.
The tall shiny one on the right is my electric percolator which I found in a flea market back in the 90's and is only used as a party gag for those who have visited and never seen one.
The last one on the right is my camping percolator which also only sees gas fires because of the blackening soot, but works with any heat. Alcohol, butane, propane, gas, wood, gasoline, candles and buddy heaters.
In front on the left is a little silver chrome filter coffee maker for a single cup, a small filter is inside it and you just pour hot water at the desired temperature over the top as it sits on top of your coffee cup and the hot finished coffee drips slowly into your cup.
Next to it is a similar single cup German coffee maker, made of porcellan, and designed to even look like a coffee cup but it has a plate on the bottom to hold it on top of your coffee cup, this one needs a paper filter and works the same way.
Standing in the middle is a glass coffee maker from France, put the powder coffee into it, add hot water and wait so long till the desired strength of coffee and darkness has been reached, kind of like waiting for your tea to steep and then when it is finished, you push the handle on top down and this pushes the coffee grounds to the bottom of the pot and you can serve your coffee.
The problems are needing different heating for each and a different grind or quality of coffee for each to produce the right flavor of each type of coffee desired....
Not pictured is a plastic funnel for holding a coffee paper filter which can be placed over any pot or other container and it also needs a paper filter and hot water poured slowly by hand.

Something I learned thru my travels: if you are a guest by a true muslim friend, never drink your coffee faster than the person you are visiting...this would mean you are uncomfortable in his house and wish to leave sooner.

( I still think the best cup of coffee I ever had was made by a hobo under a bridge in a tin can, made with water from the river running past us when I was crossing America with a backpack at the age of 17.)

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This picture if of one of my hand-coffee-bean-grinder which hangs on the wall and is hand-painted porcellan. The beans go in the top and come out into the little plastic holder on the bottom and you only make the needed amount for each day. Slow and energy consuming work for a cup of java.......
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This one is my hand-held grinder and is harder to use than the wall mounted one since you have to hold it with one hand or between your knees and grind with the other hand. Left or right handed can use it but it has to be turned in a clockwise rotation, adjustable coarseness or fine grounds is controlled by the little wheel on the handle in the middle. Coffee in the little door on top, ground coffee falls into the little wooden drawer underneath. Great aroma since the grinding is slow and produces no heat on the beans.
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When I owned this house and renting back to the previous owners.(never a recomendation) I was up here and they used a French press. They were out of filters.
I drove 15 miles down went to their specialty coffee shop, saw their French press, no filters. They told me to go to Whole foods across the street. I went there to get them and then went to the closest Dunkin, which aren’t too plentiful in in the Kommunist Republick.
Ooh the things we do for our coffee.
 
You know I was a stranger in my own house in that time. I was trying to be helpful. I came up weekends to work And set up.
i stayed in the in-law. Suite. Still don’t know if it is totally legal. I think it would be with a larger septic tank. at 50yrs old it’s time to be replaced. Then I could market it as a 5 bedroom.
When they said they wanted to take their rain chains which we replaced for 500. 4 years later we finally getting the patina.
edit: sorry to get topic off coffee.
 
Love those grinders Gary!

Not pictured is a plastic funnel for holding a coffee paper filter which can be placed over any pot or other container and it also needs a paper filter and hot water poured slowly by hand.
Should be functionally similar to the white pour-over that is front and center, right?
I have an ancient (circa 1980) Melitta plastic pour over funnel that I used camping decades before pour-over was a "thing."

Now pour-over is the preferred method of making coffee for many people, including coffee guru James Hoffman. And they make all sorts of fancy expensive pour-over funnels.
https://appliancesradar.com/best-coffee-pour-over-system/

For me, my "daily driver" is an Aeropress Go (travel version of the Aeropress)
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I drank a lot of Chicory at one time in place of coffee when I was short of money, its an acquired taste and probably a male only thing, I know the wife dosent like it but then she dosent like many brands of coffee either.
 
A Lebanese friend in college introduced me to Turkish coffee. I even bought one those specialized pots for it. But it is really too strong for me...which is saying something because I like my coffee super strong...or so I thought...LOL.

Without beeing disrespectful - but this i got served as "strong" coffee in the USA at my last visit we're using to brandy dilute...

Proably i'm living to close to Italy and France 😇🤣
 
Without beeing disrespectful - but this i got served as "strong" coffee in the USA at my last visit we're using to brandy dilute...

Proably i'm living to close to Italy and France 😇🤣
I don't think we are talking about the same thing. What my friend made me you could barely call liquid, it was best described as a "slurry". Much much much stronger than an espresso.
 

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