container, pour boiling water over it and let steep for a few minutes. Then press the coffee grounds

to the bottom of the pot with a piston-like plunger fitted with a filter, leaving the relatively clear

coffee at the top ready to pour into the waiting cups. Maybe it is the feeling of control when you

push the plunger that makes this method popular. It is certainly not the quality of the resulting

coffee, though some people swear by it.

With a little practice, you can produce a wonderful coffee with nothing more than a simple

pan on your kitchen stove. This is boiled (although you really don't boil it) or cowboy coffee. It

takes patience but works fine if all else fails. I have used it on camping trips when we remembered

the coffee but forgot the coffee pot. For cowboy coffee use fairly coarse-ground beans, start with

cold water and coffee in the pot, and heat slowly to near simmer while carefully watching to make

sure it never boils. Take the pot off the heat, sprinkle cold water on the surface (to help settle the

grounds) and let it brew for a few minutes, a time period that also settles most of the coffee grounds.

Heating coffee till it boils changes its chemical composition, producing a bitter, slightly sour

and cloudy beverage, so however you prepare coffee, don't allow the liquid to come to boil.

Reheating coffee is not a good idea, either. It simply doesn't taste very good. If you must, the

least harmful method is to steam it with the steam nozzle of your espresso machine or with a

separate milk steamer. If you don't have an espresso machine handy, dump the cold coffee out and

start with a fresh brew. You deserve only the best.

Although some of the coffee makers are made of aluminum, avoid it if you can. Aluminum

retains the leftover, stale coffee flavors the most and to get unaltered coffee flavor, you need to

clean it thoroughly each time.

Water is water

The third player in a perfect cup of coffee is water, and it does make a difference what kind

you use. Heavily chlorinated water gives an off flavor to your brew. Municipalities often add

chorine to the water supply early in the morning. When you turn your faucet on at 6 a.m. to fill the

coffee pot, you may get the water left in the pipes from the night before, which is relatively low in

chemicals. But if it already smells like chlorine, don't use it in your coffee maker. Fill the coffee pot

the night before, and most of the chlorine gas evaporates overnight.

But even worse than chlorinated tap water, as far as damaging the taste of the coffee is

concerned, is water from the hot water tap. That water has been sitting in your water heater for a

while, possibly days, ready for your shower. It is old and stale, with little oxygen in it. Save it for

your shower, where only the temperature is important.

Guide to coffee drinks

Here is a brief guide to the common types of coffee drinks that you find in better coffee

houses in the U.S. and Canada.

Serious Kitchen Play