brew coffee in our own homes. Do you remember back to when the only piece of
equipment we had to brew espresso was a percolator? My Mum had one that she
used to put on the top of the stove. As a child I found it fascinating to watch
the water heat until the pressure forced it up a small tube and over a metal
basket full of freshly ground beans. Here in Australia, the Bushells brand of
coffee was popular then and came in a glass vacuum sealed jar with the brand
name inscribed onto the glass. The quality of the cup of coffee it made was
fairly ordinary by today's standards. I can tell you from past experience that
boiling water and then running the liquid over grounds more than once produces a
brew that is far from perfect.But fortunately for us
….home coffee brewing methods and appliances have certainly improved over the
years.By the 1970s the drip method turned up on the market and changed our
coffee drinking habits forever. This was brewing simplicity at its best and soon
took the domestic market by storm. Its main features were that it was
inexpensive, quick to use and provided a marked improvement in flavour against
anything the stove top percolator could produce. Basically this model comprised
a plastic container that was lined with coffee filter paper which was then
filled with ground beans. This was then set on top of a glass container in which
water, that was almost boiling, was poured over the beans and left to drip
through to the glass pot on the bottom. Still today I have a china single cup
version of this model and find it very quick and handy to use with very little
mess to clean up afterwards.A bit later on coffee bags turned up on the shelves
of supermarkets here in Australia under brands like ‘The House of Robert Timms'
variety. Basically they are coffee bags and are made and used in exactly the
same manner as tea bags. In the US and other countries they have coffee pods. A
similar idea to the coffee bag and come in different shapes and sizes – you can
have the choice of either single or double cup sizes of your favourite blend of
ground beans. The Coffee Pod was also designed to be used in coffee making
machines where water temperature is always near 200F (93C). With varying sorts
of controls the brew and internal spouts can be adjusted to spread the water
evenly over the grounds. Coffee pods are either cone or flat in design and made
of porous type paper which holds a measure of ground beans. They certainly are
convenient and save a lot of mess and fuss in making a quick cup of coffee that
tastes ok. So why not step outside your usual routine and be a little
adventurous. In this day and age there are literally dozens of different
methods of brewing coffee just waiting for you to try.