"counter culture" news and stories

Erin Meister, aka the CoffeeMeister, trains baristas for North Carolina-based Counter Culture Coffee and sporadically maintains the blog Meet the Press Pot from her home in New York City. This is the first in a series of tips for the caffeine-addicted.

Mon chérie, let us speak together of the French press.

The press can be a tricky mechanism for the average user to master, especially if she is fumbling with it before consuming even a drop of caffeine. Used correctly, presses make fantastic coffee taste exceptional. Plunging willy-nilly, however, will make that same coffee taste exceptionally crappy.

First of all, I don't mean to get all tough love on you before we really get to know each other, but that little whirly-blade grinder you use isn't going to work out. It's the "best friend" you call despite knowing you don't have anything in common anymore. It's bringing you down, and it's time to meet somebody new.