I admit it.... I'm a coffee snob!

[CC Solutions]

I like my coffee strong and flavorful, but then I put the flooofy creams in it too. My current obsession is caramel vanilla creamer. Although when on the road if I don't brig my little zip-lock of powder (guys have wondered what in the world I'm packin' ) I can get by with a good heavy cream.

So in my quest for the perfect cup I have now abandoned my french press and bought a Bunn coffee maker. I figure the Bunn keeps the water at 195 degrees which is the perfect extraction temp, and that saves me microwaving water and checking it with an infrared thermometer (although I pretty much know that the press full of water takes 5 minutes of zapping to reach 200 degrees). The Bunn also 'turbulates' the coffee for 3 minutes in the filter which is pretty much how I did it with the press.

And my latest purchase, a conical burr grinder. These babies can run anywhere from $40 to $4,000 but I'm not an installer or an admin on a blog, so I checked reviews and bought a decent $100 steel bladed model. So far it has worked very well grinding even my oiliest beans into a perfect pile of equally shaped grains without plugging, blowing coffee grounds all over my kitchen or causing any fuss at all.

I'm on a coffee buzz now that rivals those I get when traveling in the Seattle area. I don't know if I'm even legal to drive my truck in this condition....