MAKING OF GOOD COFFEE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 October 1941, Page 2

MAKING OF GOOD COFFEE

SOME OF THE SECRETS. Can New Zealanders make good coffee? The answer is definitely “no.” In fact it has been said by overseas visitors that it is easier to take an unpleasant medicine than drink coffee, prepared in many New Zealand restaurants and railway stations. The following notes should prove useful for any person in charge of a tearoom or who has to prepare supper for a social gathering, dance or other function. The first secret in making good coffee, whether in small or large quantity, is to use pure, freshly-ground coffee. Do not use coffee essence or coffee and chicory. If coffee has to be stored keep it in an air-tight tin or it will lose its flavour. The second secret is never to let prepared coffee stand more than hah an hour. If it is to be served over a period, say of two hours, prepare fresh coffee every half hour. This is not as much trouble as it sounds as the coffee can be removed quite easily from the water if it is tied in a cloth. The third secret is to use accurate measures and never let the coffee boil. Simmering temperature is all that is required, a higher temperature ruins the flavour. ' ' Here is a recipe which makes 50 cups of coffee. It is better to use skimmed milk rather than economise on the coffee. White Coffee. —Five quarts or 25 cups of water, five-sixths of a pound (or 3 cups) of freshly-ground pure coffee, 5 quarts or 25 cups of milk. Mix the coffee with 11 cups of the water cold and tie loosely in a large cloth or cloth bag. Lower into the rest of the water boiling then simmer for 15 to 25 minutes (do not boil). Remove the bag of coffee and mix the hot coffee infusion with the hot milk. Alternately each cup may be half filled with the hot essence and hot milk added. It is a good idea when making coffee for a social gathering or other function to have two large enamel jugs. Each can then be placed in a pan of hot water. This prevents the milk from burning and the coffe from boiling. If you are making coffee in small quantity remember it takes 1 tablespoon (level) of coffee for each half cup of water —that is, 1 tablespoon of coffee for each person.