The Coffee Chronicles

I miss my Australian coffees. That is probably the only thing I miss about Australia. I used to buy a mocha most mornings and the local barista used to make it with Vittoria blend. Since moving back to New Zealand, I find that local cafes here make their coffee a bit to strong and rich. Most of the times when I ask for a mocha, I get something else. Hence, I go back to drinking hot chocolate. I used to drink a lot of instant coffee previously before leaving for Australia, specifically the cappuccino sachets that Nescafe makes. This particular product underwent a taste upgrade and has since become richer ultimately resulting in a new taste that I don’t like. So I discontinued buying the product.

Now, I am a person who enjoys a warm drink in the morning and mostly coffee. I’m not much of a tea drinker. The reason I buy Starbucks (I can already feel the glares) is because they make their White Chocolate Mochas the way I imagine/prefer that coffee would taste, a bit to the sweeter side (I can still feel the glares). I prefer coffee to be on the sweeter side than on the bitter side. I have always wanted to buy a coffee machine of sorts but because I’m not really a coffee connoisseur I’m scared that I’ll end up buying something I dislike. I used to have a capsule coffee machine in Australia and I quite liked that but it was a different brand to what’s available here in New Zealand.

Most of my colleagues have a coffee plunger that they use and I have been talking to a colleague of mine to get a better understanding of french press coffee. I went and bought myself a small plunger. The next challenge was finding a coffee that I’d like. Each time I’d imagine making coffee I’d have this instinctive taste that I thought coffee would taste like and that’s what I wanted to pursue. I stood at the coffee aisle for a good hour looking through each product. Not that I knew what I was looking for but I still stood there. Ultimately, I ended up buying Karajoz coffee as my first. Mostly because it was one of the only coffees that didn’t have a fruit flavour to it. I mean I really don’t understand these fruity coffee and tea trends, I want a warm drink not a fruit juice! But any who, I hurried home to brew me a cup. I was sure that this was going to taste exactly like what I had in mind.

I took out the plunger from the packaging and carefully read through the instructions and followed it step by step. One full spoon of ground coffee in the plunger, pour hot water, let it sit for 3-4 minutes and then plunge. I poured the fresh brew into a cup. Queue up the glares, this is when I get the milk out because like I said before I like my coffee on the sweet side and milk plays a big factor in that. I poured some milk and added some sugar. I was ready for this I knew I was going to like. I take a sip and without even a minute passing I spit it out into the kitchen sink. This is no where near what I had in mind. The taste was awful. The brew had a funny taste to it and whilst I need to add milk to my coffee, I’m not a big fan of milk, I may have perhaps poured too much.

I tried to not be disheartened because I’d just spent close to $50 on a plunger and some good coffee. I rested it for a day or two and made a second attempt. This time I took about half a spoon of ground coffee and followed the procedure. The same result. I tried a couple more times, before I decided no more. I took some suggestions from friends, and purchase the Blue Mountain coffee. I was reassured that this was somewhat of a mellow coffee flavour and perhaps I’d like this better. I brought it home and opened the packaging only to find that these are coffee beans. Great. But in saying that, I loved the smell of the beans, that is exactly how I had imagined that coffee would taste like. I hunted for a grinder (no not the app), and ground the coffee beans and hurriedly made myself a coffee. Still the same taste.

I just don’t understand why I can’t get a different taste for the coffee? If you’re coffee connoisseur can you help me? I really like my coffees and struggle without them and don’t want to keep spending $5 on a daily basis just for a cuppa. Tell me what should I be looking for. Hey Nespresso, if you’re reading this I love the dolce gusto machines, but I just don’t know which ones for me. This is a heartfelt plea, help a sister out. There’s too much blood in my caffeine system.

Until next time,

MiliG