Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

It may not be a food, but coffee is a kind of drink, so I think this may be appropriate. I'll kick this off with a little story:

I lived in Spain for a summer about six years ago though the BGSU study abroad program with La Universidad de Alcala de Henares. Great program, great city. Anyhoo, while I was there one of the only Spanish epicurean interests that stood out to me was the coffee. The food sucked for the most part - tapas there are not what you think. But the coffee...my God the coffee. Now, I've always liked my coffee black, and as strong as possible. If you knew where to look in Spain, you could find the darkest, blackest, thickest coffee you could imagine, most of it made with a press. Since then, I have been looking for a way to replicate that coffee without dropping a couple of hundred dollars on a Euro-style press (even if I was a millionaire I wouldn't spend that kind of money on coffee.

Fast forward to last night, I was doing some random searches on Wikipedia, as I often do when I'm bored, and came across something called a Bialetti Moka Express:

http://www.amazon.com/Bialetti-Express- ... -1-catcorr" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After some research about it, it became apparent that it might be exactly what I have been hoping to find for a long time. I was able to pick one up at Bed Bath & Beyond today, and WOW is it good. It is a pretty neat contraption in it's own right, too. I suppose it may be something like a percolator, although I've never used one, but it actually forces water brought to a boil up through the coffee grounds, resulting in an espresso-like, extremely think coffee. I had never heard of the Moka before last night, but apparently it is very big in Italy (where it's from) and Spain, and has been around since the 1930's.

Honestly, I have no idea how well-known this thing might be, but it is very new to me and I thought I might share it for anyone else who likes their coffee strong. I've never been into the whole latte/cappuccino scene, but I do looooooove some black, black coffee.

Wow. We were in Spain for a week about 12-13 years ago and l-o-v-e-d the food. LOVED it. It helped erase the awful experience we had in France. Rioja & Cava are awesome, too!

1987alum wrote:Wow. We were in Spain for a week about 12-13 years ago and l-o-v-e-d the food. LOVED it. It helped erase the awful experience we had in France. Rioja & Cava are awesome, too!

Oh man, I didn't even think to mention the wine! I have never in my life seen wine so very, very good, so very, very cheap. The local Champion (grocery store) was a wine lover's dream - so much wine for so very little money - the Rioja was fantastic!

Based upon my time there, I think your food experience depends upon where you are in Spain. I was living just outside of Madrid, and the normal fare was crappy bocadillos and even crappier paella. The food was excellent in the Catalan region surrounding Barcelona, and even better around Oviedo just East of Basque country in the North. I spent most of my time around Madrid, though, and the food was just awful. I did have a wonderful time, though, and I look back on the time fondly. I could have done without the heat and the communist host-mother, but oh well.

But as I said, the one thing that stuck with me was the coffee. I fired up the Moka for the first time tonight and felt like I was back there momentarily. It was great.

Lisa really liked the Spanish food while she was over there. Personally, I'm not the biggest fan. She didn't say much about the coffee, though. Wine is a whole 'nother story, as I'm sure you witnessed.

Jacobs4Heisman wrote:Lisa really liked the Spanish food while she was over there. Personally, I'm not the biggest fan. She didn't say much about the coffee, though. Wine is a whole 'nother story, as I'm sure you witnessed.

I doubt Lisa really enjoyed the coffee very much, as I remember being just about the only one who really did enjoy it from our class. I recall being in a restaurant in Sevilla with everyone, and after the meal the coffee came. Everyone was dumping as much sugar into their coffee as possible, and I was the only one ordering more. I walked out shaking like a victim of electrocution, but it was SO worth it.

She was a little more 'all about' Spain than I was to begin with, so that could have played into our perceptions of the food. And as far as the effects of the wine go, I saw nothing.

I despise the smell of coffee and will not even walk down the coffee aisle in the store. If I accidentally happen on the coffee section, I immediately hold my breath until clear of the area.

I also despise the automated request at the McDonald's drive thru to whether I want one of those stupid McCafe Frappuccino things.

Love Spanosh Reds- cheap and delicious. Apparantly I had too much Spanosh red last night since I seem to be spelling it Spanosh.

But htis thread is about coffee. I try not to be TOOOOO pretentious but we have our own coffee guy. Javier, our coffee guy, is a wholesaler in Puerto Rico- we visited some plantations in the mountains there-near Maracao (sp) for YD's benefit and attended a coffee festival where we met Javier. Every few months we get 5 lbs of absolutely awesome beans at a very reasonable price. They export very little coffee there and drink huge amounts, I guess, but it is pretty incredible tasting coffee. Now I'm psyched to get some Spanosh coffee. Not sure I've ever had any but, like BO, I like it black and very strong. Adding stuff means its not coffee anymore.

Redwingtom wrote:I despise the smell of coffee and will not even walk down the coffee aisle in the store. If I accidentally happen on the coffee section, I immediately hold my breath until clear of the area.

I also despise the automated request at the McDonald's drive thru to whether I want one of those stupid McCafe Frappuccino things.

My mom has always been like this. She won't go so far as to avoid the coffee aisle altogether, but she has always hated the very smell of coffee, and that is a position that I have never been able to understand. Hell, I remember being a kid and picking up errant coffee beans at the grocery store and chewing on them as my parents shopped.

And I'm certainly no coffee snob - I'm not a latte or cappuccino drinker in any way. But, I will not drink Folgers, Maxwell House, or anything that comes in a can unless I'm working and have no other option. Black, black coffee, in my opinion, is the very essence of being alive.

Edited to add: I forgot to mention that it is also my opinion that the only thing...and I mean the ONLY thing...that you can put in your coffee and not be a sissy is Bailey's. I won't do it often, but the palatable combination of booze and coffee is basically, well...nirvana.

So what we've learned here is that B.O. likes it strong, black and Spanish. Got it.

TG1996 wrote:So what we've learned here is that B.O. likes it strong, black and Spanish. Got it.

Uh, that would work better if Manny was Spanish- he's from the Dominican Republic. The coffee is from Spain.

BO, it truly, TRULY fightens me that your posts could have come from my pen (except my mom loves coffee). The highlight of my week is cracking open a new package of coffee and getting hit with the aroma. Love it.

h2oville rocket wrote:Uh, that would work better if Manny was Spanish- he's from the Dominican Republic. The coffee is from Spain.

Bleh. "Spanish"..."Hispanic"... just laugh at the big coffee-drinking buffoon, would ya?

Bleeding Orange wrote:Hell, I remember being a kid and picking up errant coffee beans at the grocery store and chewing on them as my parents shopped.

Should I be surprised that you picked up things from a public floor and ate them? 'Cause I'm not.


And I don't know if I would quality as a coffee snob or not, but I won't drink anything that isn't Starbucks or better. Period.

SaxyIrishTenor wrote:

Bleeding Orange wrote:Hell, I remember being a kid and picking up errant coffee beans at the grocery store and chewing on them as my parents shopped.

Should I be surprised that you picked up things from a public floor and ate them? 'Cause I'm not.

No, no. I didn't eat anything off of any floors. There were always a few beans left over on the little chutes from the bean tubes, however.

And I'm surprised you picked that one up before TG. I typed the line about chewing on coffee beans thinking his child-like radar would be going off even before he logged in.

Speaking of coffee beans, Grounds for thought sells chocolate covered espresso beans. My old favorite bartender from easy street used to leave them out on the bar. We didn't know exactly what they were until he told us and we ate waaaay too many. Three hall of foam mugs and and handful of espresso was a terrible combination the next day...

My new roommate is a coffee brewing afficionado and upon hearing of your new toy he thought you were talking about the electric version and immediately stated his disapproval. After checking out your amazon link he gives his whole hearted approval on your coffee brewing future.

If you enjoy the new piece of hardware he recommends getting a French press and/or and vaccuum pot also.

Enjoy.