Banjo does French Press Coffee

French Press is also known as a 'Press Pot'.

With our latest escapades regarding the Keurig Model B60 coffee machine causing consternation, we have decided to try making coffee via the French Press method.

This will be updated daily, as we work our way through the process of discovery on making the best cup of coffee.

Basis of Comparison
We used to frequent a local Italian restaurant (owned and operated by Iranians' !) that simply had the best coffee we have ever had.  Unfortunately, in a recent trip there, their coffee had lost all of its exquisiteness.  We have fond memories of it, and it will constitute our basis for comparison.

Ingredients

• Coffee: Starbucks brand.  Whole bean, which we ground in the store.  Note: the coffee bean chosen has one of the biggest, if not the biggest, impact on the flavor of the coffee.

Method
This is where the majority of the variation will occur, so the different tests will center around the various aspects of preparation.  Some of the elements associated with method are:

• Bean choice - Starbucks Espresso Roast Whole Bean Coffee
• Grinding method (e.g., using the in-store grinder will mean you have some carryover flavor from other, previous grinds.  Same with at-home grinding, but you can better control how much of the previous grind is cleaned out).
• Size of grind (how fine the coffee beans ground)
• Water temperature.  Currently, we are bringing it to a full boil before placing into brew carafe.
• Water choice.  We have the option of using tap water, filtered tap water, bottled distilled water, branded bottled water.
• Amount of coffee grinds placed into the carafe.
• Length of time coffee grinds sit in carafe with hot water.
• Heated utensils.  E.g., whether the carafe, plunger, cups are all heated prior to use (prior heating will keep the utensil from cooling down the coffee)
• What the coffee is stored in.  We have a vacuum sealer, so I may try to get the attachment that will allow us to place the coffee into Mason Jars and then vacuum out the air between each use.  Currently, we are using a big ceramic jar made for storing coffee (it has a clasped lid with gasket), but does not provide the ability to remove air.

 Tests
Note: our tests are not scientific - they are just documenting our search for our perfect cup of coffee; see links for other sites that may offer you more information. 
8/1/11:

• Coffee: Starbucks Espresso Roast Whole Bean, ground at grocery, course grind.
• Water: Filtered tap water.
• Number of cups: 2
• 8 scoops (7 gram scoop) placed into French Press
• Cups and French Press preheated with hot water.
• Water brought to boil, then poured over coffee and cap placed on.
• Mixture stirred with wooden spoon
• Timer set for 4 minutes.
• Results: a little too strong for us, but not bitter.

Links
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09113/964681-51.stm
http://www.coffeegeek.com/guides/presspot

New Replacement Keurig Model B60 Coffee Machine - Broken!

Recently, we began to experience problems with our original Keurig Model B60 coffee machine.  We tried all of the maintenance steps to no avail.  So, we took the big step - we threw that one away and bought a new one.

Update 7/30/11: Keurig has said they are sending out a replacement.......I'll update this when delivered.

Here's some background:

• Original post
• Later post

All started out well, and it seemed to function fine for about 2 weeks (we've had it about a month, but we were out of town for 2 of those weeks).

We've been back about a week now, making coffee every day (4 cups per day; 2 for me, 2 for my wife).  Now, the pump won't prime itself.  It says 'prime' on the display panel after the pump motor runs for a looooonnnnng time.  Living around a farming community growing up and working with hand pumps, I know what 'priming' is, and this little pump is failing at that job.  There's plenty of water in the reservoir, the valve at the bottom of the reservoir is not plugged.  By removing the reservoir and putting it back in, doing this multiple multiple times, sometimes the machine will prime itself, but only for one cup and then the whole problem is back.

What a piece of crap - in my opinion of course!

After Googling the model and related problems, it appears to me that this is a common problem.  Many problems for many people.  Searching for - keurig model b60 problem prime - gives 66,000 hits!  Of course, not all of those would be legitimate, but it's an indication of a problem - in my opinion of course!  But this I do know for a fact - the stats for the entries I've made on this blog show that the pages associated with Keurig Model B60 problems are some of my more frequented pages, and looking at the searches that lead people to these pages (my stats show that as well) indicates they may be experiencing enough problems to end up here on this little blog of mine!

I feel really really stupid now.   $320 for two (2) machines that are documented as not working correctly per people's experiences on the internet.  And I was just the most recent sucker.  I'm sure there is yet another buyer somewhere, today, that has made another purchase of yet another piece of crap - in my opinion, of course!

So it's back to French Press coffee for us!  What's the big deal anyway?  I'm retired (yeah, I've got to do the dishes tonight...), and the French Press coffee tastes better than it ever tasted from this machine (did I mention it's a piece of crap - in my opinion, of course), more consistent in flavor, cheaper to buy (a glass beaker with plunger/filter), coffee certainly cheaper, and more flavors and brands to choose from.

They say they are "the worlds best single cup coffee maker".  That may be true, because I haven't researched all of the worlds single cup coffee makers, so I can't evaluate their claim.  However, if this is the "world's best", then in my opinion of course, the world is really struggling with this problem and has yet to solve it with a machine that will function properly.

So, here's a suggestion:

1. Buy a French Press coffee coffee maker for $30.00.
2. Put $320 - $30 = $290 into a drawer.
3. Take $30 out to buy a really good coffee bean grinder.
4. Put $290 - $30 = $260 back into a drawer.
5. Spend $15 for really good coffee beans.
6. Put $260 - $15 = $245 back into a drawer.
7. Make a cup of really good coffee.
8. Add another $1 to the drawer for every cup of coffee you make because it's cheaper and better, in my opinion of course!
9. Take a luxury cruise every few years from the money you saved.
10. Live longer from the loss of stress you've realized.
11. Mount a picture on kitchen wall of Keurig Model B60 so you can look at it each morning while enjoying your French Press cup of coffee. 
12. Smile and giggle a little, knowing you have beaten their system and their "world's best single cup coffee maker".

What was I thinking when I bought this piece of crap - in my opinion, of course!

Banjo does World's Longest Yard Sale 2011

Updated 8/26/11

TRIP RESULTS (images at bottom)
For some odd reason, I woke up about 4 AM on Friday, the weekend of the event.  So, after banging around quietly but enough to ensure the wife was awake, we got ready and left, ate some breakfast along the way, and arrived in Chattanooga TN around 8 AM for the start...only it wasn't because we forgot about the time change - it was really 7:00 AM local time!  We didn't discover our time shift until lunch, when we showed up early, just after the cafe opened along the route.

So we were early, but most places were already open.

After a while, we settled into a pattern that was right for us.

• We only went to places that had multiple vendors ( a loose term - anyone selling is a vendor).  That meant we skipped all of the 'mom and pop' people in their own yards.  As the day wore on, and we got more and more tired, this was a big win for us.
• We wanted places with fairly good parking, however, we did pull off to the side of the road a couple of times.
• There are some sites that have a hundred or more vendors.  Those are pretty convenient, and we liked stopping at those. 
• We went from Chattanooga north on hwy 127 until we got to I-40, where we left the WLYS at Crosseville and headed west to stay in Cookeville.  We did this because the hotels in Crosseville that normally charged $100 per night had jacked up their prices to $200!  So, by driving about 25 miles or so west, we saved $100.  Plus we had a bigger choice of places to stay as well as eat.
• We covered about the entire state of TN, from south to north.
• It's an exhausting but interesting time.
• We shopped all day Friday; we had intended to do some more on Saturday, but bad weather made us change our mind and drive home.
• We had a great time, and will probably do it again next year.

So, what did we see, what did we buy?  

There is no limit to what you are going to see.  There's everything imaginable - from commodes to sinks, from doorknobs to hats, from bottles to stills.  If it's ever been made, by anyone, somewhere on this route, it will show up.  The prices are all over the place.  I didn't buy a single thing!  That's very unusual for me.  Some things that I wanted to buy, I didn't want to pay the price.  However, as the day wore on, I began to see that the prices for these things were fairly consistent, so I don't think they were overpriced, just I didn't want to part with my money at that price.  I hoped to pick some up on Saturday, but weather made us cut our trip short....so next year.  My sweet wife Pat bought a few small things - one being a dainty hand fan (the type you wave with your hand) to help stay a little cooler.  I wish they would move this to mid-late September; it was too dang hot!

Recommendations

• Some vendors will try to take advantage of you.  For instance, we saw many, many cast iron skillets, most for $30-$40 for a 10" skillet.  However, we saw some that had been shined up to look glossy black that were selling for $180!  That vendor travels from show to show, has a complete tent setup, sits back in a rocking chair and waits for suckers to come by.  Everything he had had been shined up, and was 10X what it should have been.  When I see that, I'm not willing to negotiate with a thief or someone trying to take advantage of someone.
• Shop around a little before buying, seeing other vendors' wares.  There are very few things that only appear at a single vendor.  After a while, you'll begin to notice that things have approached their own value, as you'll see fairly consistent prices from site to site.
• Friday's aren't the best day to negotiate, but you have the biggest choice.  As the weekend advances, some things will have sold and thus be removed from the sell, but the vendors will be more willing to negotiate on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. For some vendors, this is their best and only chance to sell; keeping it will mean retaining it for another year, or dumping it at a loss, so the closer you get to the end day and time, the more willing they are to negotiate.
• Common items, where you will see at every site, are the easiest to negotiate.  Don't be quick to buy these.
• A lot of vendors will pack up and leave by noon Sunday.

BACKGROUND
We've never been on the World's Longest Yard Sale.  This is an annual event that starts on the first Thursday of August, and runs through the following Sunday, and takes place along hwy US127.  This year, 2011, that means the event will start on Thursday August 4 and run through Sunday August 7.  Here's a Google link for more insight.

We plan on starting our trip in Chattanooga TN, and possibly (but not probably) going to Frankfort KY.

Here's a link to my personal map.  It shows places where we may bail out to head back to Atlanta along I-75.

This is the first time we are actually planning on going; we've missed it every year since hearing about it 5 years ago.

Images
I didn't take a lot of pictures because there was so much, and from a general standpoint, it was all the same....just different stuff.  I took these two pictures at the start, at the same place, just north of Chattanooga.  This will give you some idea of what it was like, but repeated hundreds of times.

Banjo's Restaurant Reviews

Banjo's Dining Reviews

• Dining in Wilmington, NC.  July, 2011
• Dining in Charleston, SC.  June and Oct 2011

Dining Review - Dock Street Oyster Bar, Wilmington NC

Tuesday, 7/21/11 - dinner

We had eaten here once before, in October of 2010, prior to really starting this blog.  On that trip, we had wonderfully prepared steamed oysters, by the bucket.

We really enjoyed the paintings on the walls - literally, the walls are painted with interesting, cartoonish (I'm sure there is a better description, but I'm an engineer, and don't know much about art, although I do a damn fine job of mounting it on the wall) figures.  Most appear to be female, which suits me just fine!  This place has a good, offbeat-way about itself.  It carries over to the servers, most of which appear to be local college students.

This trip, we elected not to have the oysters.  My wife had a 'seafood brunswick stew', and a 'island pork taco'.  I tasted both, and would have enjoyed having either or both for my dinner.  I elected to have 'shrimp over grits'.  Mine was good too.

I had Yingling beer (2), while my wife had Miller draft beer.

The total tab, including tax and tip, was $46.

Website for Dock Street Oyster Bar, downtown Wilmington, NC.
TripAdvisor Review