So back when I was first living on my own. I of course had no money and I still needed coffee. So I just started doing what I would call cowboy coffee. Where the hot water and grounds are just combined. Then the grounds settle to the bottom. I have had a number of people find this quite uncouth and have tried to make me change. So I just got curious about what everyone here thought.
And just as a point of order. I like it and have no plans to change. Any attempt to sway me will fall on deaf ears. Though I am quite willing to accept the title of heathen if people decide so.
the “fancy” version of cowboy coffee is Turkish coffee with a LONG tradition – and, according to Wikipedia at least, boiled coffee was the primary method of preparation until the 1930s
Fuck yeah I am moving up in the world. From now on I am going to tell everyone that it is Turkish style.
It’s poor man’s Turkish coffee. Proper Turkish style requires beans ground way finer than usual, and boiled either directly over an open flame or on a hot sand pan. Boiling coffee is fine, if you don’t have an alternative. But don’t try to upsell it as something it is not. You like it? Good. No one will take that away from you. But accept that few share your taste and some will look down upon it. There’s a reason nobody boils coffee anymore.
If you want cheap poured coffee, get a cloth filter. They sell them for like, a dollar. Or you can improvise it with a wire cloth hanger and a piece of cheese cloth filter (also absurdly cheap) or just a piece of an old cotton T-shirt with no stamped graphics. Cut it in a square and fold it in two, tie it as a cone around a loop of wire about the size of a cup or pot. Put the coffee inside the cloth then pour the boiling water into it while holding it over a pot. That’s how we improvise it in South America, and with practice you can get a quality brew that will rival any fancy method and will leave anything Starbucks in the dust.
This is basically the bell curve meme.
Low end: I put grounds in hot water
Middle: NO, YOU HAVE TO FILTER IT OR ELSE YOU’LL BE DRINKING THE GROUNDS etc.
Top end: I put the grounds in hot water.
There is a brand that packages “instant Turkish coffee”. You can’t drink the last half inch or so unless you like having coffee mud in your throat. It was good though. Anyone telling you that you can’t make coffee your way is a dumbass too. In cooking as long as it tastes good and follows food safety practices, anything else goes.
Turkish coffee is not quite boiled. The roast (dark) and the grind (very fine) are different too from the coffee normally done in percolators (or boiling). While I find Turkish coffee enjoyable, similar to espresso, boiled or percolated coffee is quite different, and not my cup of … well… coffee.