Black as the devil, hot as hell - grab your cup of black coffee!

” Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love “- Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand’s quote on the perfect cup of coffee is something I relate to with every sip of coffee I take. Be it a tumbler of Madras filter coffee or a quick shot of espresso, his words hold.

As much as I love filter coffee, a cup of espresso goes down just as well with me. But it is extremely difficult (and quite trying on your purse strings too) to pop in to Cafe’ Coffee day every time you wish to have a cup of black coffee. I have a simpler way and that is to have that cup of black coffee at home. So how can you make it and what do you need?

Ingredients

1. 2 teaspoons of coarsely / not very finely ground coffee (ideally freshly ground)
2. One and a quarter cup of water. If you want it stronger, you can reduce it to one cup.
3. Sugar to taste. Do try to add as minimal as possible, to retain the flavour of coffee.

Make your cuppa, right now

1. In a saucepan (that’s what I use, earthenware is better) boil the water.
2. The water should be boiled to a point where it has just started bubbling out. Once this stage is reached, pour the water into another container and keep it aside.
3. Now put the powder in the saucepan from which the water has been removed.
4. Pour the boiled water into the saucepan and onto the powder.
5. Let the mixture stand for a few minutes.
6. Strain it out and have your cup of black coffee!

A few pointers to make your coffee taste good, every time you make it:

1. Try to use freshly ground powder alone. If you are a regular black coffee drinker, make sure to stock up just a week’s worth of powder.
2. Do not reheat your coffee and have it as the flavour would be lost and it would taste very different.
3. Do not ever add milk/ creamer to this. This is a definite no-no and borders on insult of the sanctity of the coffee.
4. Do not go for a second degree coffee. Once the powder is used, toss it out.

Black coffee is probably one of the purest form of coffee and in my opinion the most. So, go ahead and sip away!

Blacker and hotter!

• BBC’s comprehensive guide on making black coffee (complete with different equipments and methods of preparation)
• Douglas Taylor’s good cup of black coffee

Tags: black coffee, coffee, how to