I love COFFEE!

Coffee is almost as fantastic as ice cream...maybe even *gasp* dare I say it.... better?!? And if it IS better (and I'm not committing myself to saying for sure) it's only because for all that intense lovely flavor it's practically calorie free compared to ice cream. In fact after a quick net search I've confirmed my low calorie suspicions. Supposedly 1 fluid cup of black unsweetened coffee has only 9 calories...NINE! That's nothing...I'm sure I absorb more calories from sitting in this office chair then from a nice cup of black coffee. Now of course we don't drink our coffee unsweetened. We don't use sugar or sugar substitutes either but Stevia which has ZERO calories, is a natural thing and is 300 times sweeter then sugar... But I'm blabbing bout coffee NOT Stevia.
I've discovered I love coffee in all the many ways I can get it. My two favorites being iced or hot. Iced is a must have way for the summer. Just dump a bunch of ice cubes in the cup of hot coffee after it's been brewed and sweetened and YUMMMMMMMERS! We prefer super dark coffees, especially French Roast. I never knew there would come a day I could specify a preferred roast of coffee....and yet here I am a French Roast fan! I find the darker roasts make the best iced coffees. The iciness can sometimes dull the coffee flavor and dilute it a bit but if you start with an intense coffee like French Roast it'll be fine. Some times if we've made our version of Thai iced coffee (which is coffee brewed with black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom etc) we'll pour a tablespoon or so of half and half cream on the top after it's been iced. As seen in the picture above....not only is it a feast for the taste buds but one for the eyes as well! And tastes like.............Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmness!
We used to make coffee in an electric coffee pot which was great and all but after reading online about fellow coffee lusters using an Italian coffee pot that makes fantastic coffee, that's supposedly as close to espresso as you can get with out an actual espresso machine AND was for use on the stove we switched. This little coffee pot is so darling that I swear that's enough to make the coffee better then a standard electric pot. Tee hee.

But seriously it makes wonnnnnderful dark coffee. And since it's espresso type coffee the servings are petite BUT intense! The brand is Bialetti and I highly recommend this type of coffee pot to any fellow coffee lusters! It's actually our second Bialetti coffee pot. The first was made of aluminum but when we found out we could get the same kind in stainless steel we switched out. My aluminum coffee pot will make a lovely planter though!
So it should go without saying that a coffee lover like myself grinds her own beans right?
Not trying to sound all hoighty toighty here, it's just that freshly ground coffee beans do make a tastier cup of coffee. And even if it didn't it's dang fun to noisily grind them up in my little electric coffee grinder. And the smell........awwwwww it smells just like what you'd imagine a bunch of freshly pulverized coffee beans would smell like! The whole place immediately takes on that cool coffee shop smell.....MMmmmmm braingasms just thinking about it!