Thursday, September 1, 2011

press pots, vices, happiness


It started last week, when I was thinking about hurricane Irene, the possible flooding, those who would be without power.  My mind took off on a rabbit trail.  How would all those Manhattanites survive without their cuppas? I remembered that French press coffee making method.  It doesn't require electricity, does it?

Every Friday, like clockwork, I pop into my local Gee-Dub (Goodwill Store) for a quick browse. What did I find, side by side, doppelgangers in the dishware?  Two perfectly new French presses marked $3 each, in green wax china marker, looking all lonely and wishing for the kitchen at Willow Manor.  I had to. Besides, I had already been thinking about French press coffee.  It was fate.

That afternoon, I tossed some freshly ground coffee into one of the cute little glass and chrome pots, added boiling water, waited a few minutes, then slowly pressed the grounds to the bottom.  Heaven; and even more so, since I had given up coffee several years ago, to cure my insomnia.  To make a long story short, I am now drinking coffee again.  It makes me happy.  I'm sleeping fine.  I love coffee.  It was silly to give it up.


"People always think that happiness is a faraway thing,"
 thought Francie, "something complicated and hard to get.
  Yet, what little things can make it up; 
a place of shelter when it rains - 
a cup of strong hot coffee when you're blue; 
a cigarette for contentment; 
a book to read when you're alone - 
just to be with someone you love. 
 Those things make happiness."
  

Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

51 comments:

  1. And today happiness is cheap french coffee presses and the product thereof. Happiness IS really a simple thing.
    Congrats on finding them (or them finding you) at just the right time.

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  2. so true my friend, it really is the small things that bring happiness...sometimes we forget that, then a coffee press comes our way and we are reminded...

    thank you :)

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  3. you are a whiz at finding things in thrift shops. boy i sure wish i drank coffee. i gave it up about 20 years ago. but it smells sooooo good. a clever tip for all those still with electricity out there.

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  4. Ah! Mines a baby Atomic rescued from the Red Cross charity shop!..Serendipity rides on a rabbit's tail!..Actually I was wondering where do all those homeless people go during those kinds of events.

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  5. Thank you for sharing the "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" quote, Tess. And for sharing your wonderful tale and perspective shift. I just might abscond with the quote to prompt a piece myself. Blessings to you today!

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  6. Kim, by all means, please share it...it's a wonderful quote, isn't it?

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  7. A discovery, now it is a life saver. I've seen those with insomnia. They looked depressed,tired and with blood-shot eyes early morning

    You are done with it now. Good for you

    Hank

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  8. I haven't tried that particular approach to coffee making. I don't care how I get it as long as I get it. No apologies, I am hooked on my caffeine. I don't have insomnia since I removed all light from my bedroom. I loved the book too.

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  9. nice...i love a good french press....great find...i do love my coffee

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  10. Fresh coffee from a french press...lucky you! I have one cup of coffee every morning with one warm up...delicious. At night if things get rough...a Tylenol PM. Favorite book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn!

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  11. I'm happier just reading your blog!
    ;)

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  12. Now look what you've done LOL---I have to have one of those coffee presses. :D

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  13. Tess, that quote reads like a list/lust for life, although I gave up the cigarettes 32 years ago.

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  14. Mimi, what a sweet thing to say...thank you... xx

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  15. You know, I'm putting "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" on my re-read list...

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  16. I agree. People like to blame coffee but insomnia isn't that easy.

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  17. Lucky you! I've thought about getting a French press, but I always think twice about spending the money. Now if I happened to find one at a thrift shop...

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  18. You know what? I love that quote. And I adore coffee. Lucky you for finding the little press.

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  19. The quote is oh so true! It really is the simple things in life that are golden. Thank you for the lovely reminder.

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  20. I gave up coffee for a while, but how Starbucks is my best friend. It's like a warm, fuzzy blanket to take to work in the morning.
    I've never tried a french press...you always find the best deals.

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  21. i only drink it when i'm out for breakfast, but your press sounds like a neat-o idea.

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  22. Tess -- I give up coffee once a year and always return to it after a month or so. Who am I kidding when I say I'm giving up coffee? Myself, of course. -- barbara

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  23. I wondered what you were talking about for a while. Here in France they're simply knows as a 'Cafetière' (a piston). It's what we use every day. Simple but effective!

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  24. Sigh. I love being reminded of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" -- one of my best memories is of reading it for the first time as a girl --

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  25. I too wondered what this "gadget"was, but read Cro Magnon's comment, we call them cafetieres here in Ireland too!
    It's true, happiness does come from very simple things sometimes. Like a cup of coffee!

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  26. I may limit my coffee- but certainly
    not give it up- and as the quote says there are other things to go with it: very well!

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  27. I bought a french press after watching the British series "As Time Goes By" (stars Judi Dench, one of my all-time faves). Every scene of her in the kitchen featured this neat-o coffee making thingie, which I researched and then bought.

    Love french-press coffee! It's especially cool because you can really control how strong you want to make it.

    As far as coffee and my sleep patterns, I find that as long as I drink just one cup a day, first thing in the morning, all the caffeine is out of my system by bedtime. If I drink coffee after four or five in the afternoon, then I'm awake all night. Sometimes I give in to temptation at work, during the 8PM slump, but I always regret it when I'm staring at the ceiling at 2AM!

    Yummy coffee trick: Shake a little cinnamon into your coffee mug before pouring in the coffee. Delicious!

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  28. Just a minute--I need to get a cup of...My daughter uses a French Press, and I LOVE it--except that I haven't found one in 'four-liter' size.

    Sure never found ANY for 3 bucks, though! Love reading about your beautiful museum--I mean The Manor!
    PEACE!

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  29. Is this a little bit like a cafetierre?

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  30. well, while i'm not nor have i ever been a coffee person i do think at times of all the reverence that is paid this little dark smokey elixir - but, alas, as a child every morning we were awakened to the sound of the bubblebubble perkperk percolator that was always set out with the china and silver for our parents' morning ritualistic cup - for me, though, it was the smell of it - it made me deathly ill but i dared not tell anyone - and so i suffered in silence [yes, really] - and hence, my never ever having had any desire to taste it - i cannot bear the thought -

    and so i came to find my liquid caffeine refuge in dark rich chocolate - with just enough white silky cream to make it velvety soft and sensual - and the fragrance? be still my heart! and on a cold chilly night, how divine to wrap one's hands round a big steamy cup of something that truly is heaven sent/scent - well, for me, anyway!

    neat post, as always, lady!

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  31. it's the hot water
    part
    that needs power
    life needs power
    java is power
    but french press
    we ruled out in the
    hurricane prep department

    we settled for diet coke,
    Starbucks,
    with more corporate clout and generators to keep the brew flowing,
    or rent a car and find McDonald's drive-through within 50 mile radius.
    who said Manhattanites aren't
    clever

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  32. The coffee press is my favorite way to have coffee. The words about the simple things for happiness, I agree with completely. It was a nice reminder.

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  33. Anon, Starbucks and Mickey Dee's...you're clever, alright...

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  34. The French Press is a critical element for my Mobile Man Cave. A little propane stove to heat water, coffee and the press. Simple. Light. Very mobile.

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  35. It really is the little things...
    We all need to slow down and enjoy them. Great post!

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  36. Ooooh....so happy you have re-joined we coffee drinkers! I have a French Press too.... don't use it all the time.... but often, when it's just for me - it's wonderful! I love your Goodwill store....you always find the most wonderful treasures there!

    I raise my fragrant cup to you!

    Love,

    ♥ Robin ♥

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  37. Nothing like a hot, fresh cup in the morning. Especially now that autumn is, thank the Lord, almost here!

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  38. Yes, you see, you do need electricity for your French press coffee -- the water has to boil. And in my case, as I always use a French press, I need electricity also to grind the fresh beans. But they're great and if I found one, or two for $3, I'd buy them because I've found that if I break one it's very hard to find a replacement.

    Happiness ...? you have to stop and see if it's already there. If you don't stop and look you'll find out long after that you missed much of it.

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  39. we have a french press (altho we mostly use our electric coffee maker) but the rub is as i discovered last week - that when one always grinds beans prior to making coffee the french press is as useless as the electric coffee maker when the power goes off!

    fortunately i live close to a fun, hip coffee shop so i packed up the day's charges (ms t and brother bingo) and off we went for a morning at 'the root'.....

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  40. I can boil water on the gas range when the power is out...just have to light it with a match...I make fi-re!

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  41. Ahhhh...Nectar of the Gods....

    I have yet to try the French press but I do have a Corning electric coffee pot collection. They are from the 70's and part of my childhood as this was the coffeepot of choice by my Mother.

    A cup of White Castle coffee from White Castle is my ultimate when on the go.

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  42. My sentiments exactly, and how I love to pop in the little thrift shops. Tea is my cup of coffee, jasmine buds and the favored tea of the Czars, properly prepared, of course. No tea bags. It's early, but if I don't get back, have a Happy Labor Day at Willow Manor.

    Love the poem. We should all live by that.

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  43. Happiness and the little things...so true. I love reading about your goodwill store purchases...the little things in your life make me happy, too.

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  44. I could never give up coffee or cigarettes ... we call this a cafetiere ... I have a tiny one for making two cups of strong coffee ... care to join me ...

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  45. I recently stopped drinking coffee and I miss it so much. I did it for the same reason and now I'm thinking decaf. I love my lonely French press. I think it is time for us to reunite.

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  46. Oh, I have a beautiful french press that sits up on a shelf and doesn't get used 'cause I'm just too damned anxious with coffee. But I just love the smell of it. I also like sketching with coffee! The whole process of using the french press is appealing to me, which is why I bought the damn thing years ago...sigh.

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  47. French press, Spanish fly.
    Fly paper, digital press.
    I-phones, you tube,
    we all scream for Tarzan.
    Cheetah bad, Jane good.
    Jane Goodall, the more the merrier.

    Ah Coffee!

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  48. Winston, you've had just as many cups this morning as I've had...thanks for the smiles...

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  49. HA HA! We were without power for 5 days due to Irene and I thanked God for my French press every day! and my gas stove:)

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  50. And it didn't even affect your sleeping after all that switching back again?

    I have to say, I LOVE French press good coffee. There is a bakery about half an hour awy from me that serves fantastic coffee, served in French presses, ans well as the best cappaccinos in Northern Colorado I;d say.

    Now, I must go find myself brilliant find like this too. Good going.

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  51. I love my Bodum French press. I've even made tea in it. Good for you. Enjoy!

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)