The name behind the blog

What is it about coffee that people really love and enjoy? Is it the smell, the taste or maybe both? With the name of my blog – With Your Coffee – it definitely says something about my relationship with coffee. In essence I love coffee.

It seems the world’s two top favourite hot drinks are indeed coffee and tea. Most countries show a distinct preference to either tea or coffee and in Ireland most people love their ‘cuppa’. After Turkey, the Irish drink more tea than anywhere in the world, according to a 2016 per capita tea consumption survey. UK came third. But since so many coffee shops started opening in Ireland, many Irish people now also really love a good cup of coffee.

I love good strong coffee. Coffee brewed in an Espresso Moka pot on the stove.

We started using an Italian Espresso moka pot when we visited Italy many years ago and my brother gifted me such a pot. We’ve never looked back as far as coffee machines and makers go. We even bought a 12 cup pot for when we have guests.

 

How does it work?

When using the moka pot you in essence brew your coffee the old-fashioned way. The water goes in the bottom half of the pot, which when it starts boiling becomes steam and with pressure passes through the ground coffee which sits in a little filter on top of the water. This finished product in my opinion tastes far better than made in any fancy machine. You can taste all the rich flavours of real coffee. 

But it does really depend on the type of coffee as well as the type of moka pot you use.

The Bialetti espresso moka pot is according to me the superior one. Alfonso Bialetti revolutionised the way you can make coffee at home with his invention and the Moka was launched in 1933. The name Moka comes from the city Mocha in Yemen which was the major marketplace for coffee from the 15^th century until the early 18^th century and even remains so until today.

Variety of pots, milk and beans

There are a wide variety of moka pots on the market these days. If you use it often don’t go for the very cheap one, because the handle will melt or break of. Experience has taught me a lesson …

And it takes time. You have to wait for those gurgling sounds before you can pour.

Then there is also the different ways how you take your coffee, with or without milk and sugar, strong coffee or less so.

While living in the Netherlands some time ago, we got used to coffee milk, which is milk just for coffee and you only add a little splash. But this is not as available here in Ireland. So, these days it is warm frothy milk.

When you go through all the trouble of brewing a nice cup of coffee and you take milk as well, warm milk is essential. And frothy warm milk is the best. It makes the coffee also creamy. There are a variety of ways how to froth your milk, but we use this (picture) Lavazza frother. There are newer versions of the one we use.

With ethical and sustainable in mind I’m always searching for coffee beans and ground coffee. Recently I found the Warbler & Wren company in Dublin and this is indeed exceptional coffee.

Whatever the case, coffee and how you like it is very personal, but one thing we coffee-drinkers can agree on:  it all starts with the smell.

But if coffee is not your preferred number one hot drink, please do not let that deter you from reading my blog posts…