Stove Pot Coffee - The Essence

The humble stove pot. Few people have unlocked the potential of this ubiquitous kitchen artifact. But with the correct method this device is able to produce a coffee of outstanding quality. That method is detailed here...

First of all you will need to knock out the last plug of spent coffee and carefully clean the seal. This is very important as the device needs to build up pressure in the base if it to make good coffee.

There is still a bit of coffee jammed in here on the right. It doesn't pay to let inexperienced users have free reign of your stove pot!!

A bit more cleaning required...

Give the top a good rinse as well to make sure there is no old residue in there.

Rinse out the base and fill it up to just below the pressure relief valve.

Its best if you can grind your coffee on the spot with a proper mill grinder set to the "fine" setting.

Grinding away...

Good quality fresh coffee will form fluffy clumps in the grinder bin.

To fill the coffee basket, put it in the base and form a barrier around the top with your fingers.

This makes it easy to fill without spilling coffee. A few taps on the exposed rim will help to get the coffee moving.

See why you need the barrier! you need the basket full, if you dont fill it it will not build up the pressure need to make good coffee. Thats why these pots come in different sizes to make different quantities of coffee.

Now before you remove your finger retaining wall, lightly squeeze your index finger and thumb together to push the heaped coffee towards the centre.

Look at that beutiful pile of fresh coffee!

Cup your hand to form a cavity in your palm...

then lay your cupped palm on the coffee. There is no pressure here, we are just shaping the coffee.

Note the palm print!

If its good fresh coffee you will need to add a bit more now to get the right compaction.

You are aiming for a profile like this...

...to match the base filter in the top section of the pot.(note the clean seal)

The top docking with the matching base. The bottom rim was scruplously cleaned so that no coffee will get jammed into the seal - this is critical to success. If coffee is jammed in here it will comprimise the seal and prevent the correct pressure build up. It will also, in time ruin the rubber seal.

Screw it together nice and tight - its all about pressure!

On to the stove...

This method makes a stong short black or add hot water for a long black - or...

If you like a milky coffee, fill some cups now and warm them in the microwave.

A watched pot never boils... and thats what we want here. You have to watch the coffee coming up so you can pull it off at the critical point.

Here it comes...

Just look at that crema!

Black gold - Texas tea!

Chaos theory in action- watch the swirling crema patterns forming and disolving.



Note the flow steadily increasing as the pressure builds as the essential oils and flavours are extracted from the coffee below.

The critical point! note the bulge in the top of the flow. All of the best and richest flavour "the essence" has now been extracted. If you keep going now you will start to unlock all the bitter flavours from the spent coffee as the super heated steam blasts though it.

Snap the lid shut now and pour it as quickly as possible to get the purest essence into your cups.



The residual heat in the pot brings up the bitter dregs. These smell and taste horrible, if you let the pot go until it starts steaming and sounding like a rocket engine then you have destroyed the essence of your coffee and you should chuck it out and start again. Some people have said to me that this is a waste but that is nonsense you would no more drink the dregs of your coffee than you would eat a teabag after making a cup of tea.


A really good coffee with a coconut macaroon...

hmmm...

Postmortum.
Care to examine the stool?
Note the firm dome shaped mound of spent coffee with the imprint left from the filter.

You should be able to poke your finger into this and feel it smoothly compress. If your finger falls into a void underneath the top surface then the basket was underfilled and you would have noticed the more rapid flow and lack of crema as you watched the pot.

If you couldn't make a small dent like this one then it was packed too tight and you would have seen early spitting and very dark coffee. The early spitting means that steam is getting past the seal as the hot water is blocked by the over tight coffee. If your seal is in very good condition you may even see and hear steam comming out of the pressure relief valve. Too much heat and pressure is as bad as too little as it extracts the bitter flavours.

A happy customer

Pizza oven Project. Part 1. The base.

Pizza oven project. Part 1. The base. Cutting the pine logs to the correct length.

Cutting the wood.



pine post length - 400mm under the ground and 800mm above the ground, for a finished height of 900mm with top to add on (see stage 2).



Surveying the scene.

Chain saw for this job is probably overkill.

watching the men working.

Cutting rebate for cross beam to fit in. measure to fit a sleeper slightly proud of posts for the top to lay on.

cutting out slots.

Then chisel out.

Chisel out the slots.

Measure length.

Make sure you look as cute as possible.





More cutting. be a man and do it by hand.

Don't forget to take a piss.

When cutting the slots - set the blade depth to the thickness of the cross beam, and then holding the saw as level as possible cut every half inch or so as level as you can. It is not difficult at all, and makes chiselling them our easy as pie.

More cuteness to make working easier.

finished posts with rebates ready to attach cross beam.

Did I say finished, one more to go.

Take it easy on the last one, don't get sloppy.

Cutie pie.

Cutting the cross beam. cut these to your desired width, we did ours 800mm as we are using 2x 400mm prefab slabs.

cutting cutting more cutting.

cross beam is place in the slots.

Drilling and screwing the cross beams into place.



Check triangulation.

Ready to go into the ground.

draw out the spot.



helpers hard at work.

Digging holes time.

helpers digging - not in the right spot.

Using the crow bar to dig the holes this time.

Place posts in holes.

hole digging is fascinating subject.

There is a real art to hole digging. watch and learn.

dirt - yummy yellow colour.

check level and adjust by scraping some gravel into the hole and lifting posts slightly.

levels.

adjusting levels.

home made umbrella. what an invention!

rapid set concrete. put in water, concrete, slosh around and don't move the posts.





as usual the woman does the cleaning up.

done for now. next phase is doing the bench top.

Front garden - pics

Front garden.



Front garden. There is still alot of work to do here. But nevertheless I am proud of what I have done.

Garden good bits - pics

More good bits I like about my garden. Although I am not saying they couldn't be improved.

Pittosporum walk.

some grasses I recently planted.

Our circle lawn. Very happy with our perfect circle, just big enough for kids to play handstands and tumbling on, and small enough to keep green with grey water direct from the washing machine.

Our screen we put up a few months ago has helped to shape our garden and enable garden 'rooms', we are planning on turning this area into an entertainment area and putting the mud pizza oven here.

kids playing under the big maple. while this tree dominates the yard it provides excellent shade too.



We love our chooks. this is 'sticky'.

A better pic of the screen.

This area is a great place for kids to explore.

I love these native grasses - poa. So easy to grow and they looks fantastic.

Am also very proud of our curved garden edging.

this is another reason to love the lawn and the shade. This kids loved this, this summer.

Garden good bits - more pics

Good bits of the garden. This is under the huge maple tree. the garden seat is a little rustic but I like the grasses and natives I have planted here, and the path that leads through the garden.

the secret pathway made out of recycled cement pavers.

More pathways.

Back corner is very private and colourful with another rustic bench, this is a great secret spot for the kids. |\

Future project no. 8. painting the exterior windows.

As you can see we have run out of steam on this one.

Those damn windows again.

And while we are at it, the back step. UGH!

Future project no 7. the deck

this is the front deck and the step needs to be fixed, but otherwise the front deck is alright.

Back deck - this will be demolished when we do the extension.

note the terrible angles and the step up to the original deck. not satisfied with the job we did here.

another reason to start again, the wide gaps between the treated pine.

This is the roof of the deck, I think we did a pretty good job of this.

The terrible step up to the old section of the deck, the reason this is bad and annoying is that it makes for two smaller and thus not so usable areas.

Back deck step.

Future project no 6. the kids play area

this sand pit is in the wrong area and is badly designed.

old play equipment, this badly needs updating.

close up of rusty kids swing.

close up of edging on kids play area. we not only need to get rid of this, it was a bad idea, but move the play equipment and maybe even build a cubby.

Future project no. 5. Tidy up back corner

which is where the chooks and veggies reside.

compost area, we would like to extend the chook run to here, and maybe plant some citrus.

Chook house.

Chicken run is in sad need of repairs and extension.

One of our beautiful pet chooks 'sticky'.

Back view of shed - ugly as you can see.

our garden shed.

Future project no. 4. Gate and drive way

... leading to the shed. Not only is the gate awry and ugly but this whole area is a mess.

This is the unsightly mess - this has got to go the tip. but it just keeps returning.

view inside the shed.

Future project no. 3. The driveway.

There are a number of issues here. First the garden edging and widening of the drive with some gravel or other substance for a pathway is needed here next to the garden.

next of the driveway list is the pavers, they are bumpy and uneven due to the trees root system.

Future project 2. Fixing this fence.

I am pretty sure this is the original fence from when this house was built in the '50's.

fence problem.

Future garden project 1. getting rid of unwanted plants

... like these 25 year old crazy thorny rose bushes

And this old plum which is sending up suckers all over the place - it does provide great shade and has beautiful blossoms which is why I have let it stay so long.

And this old vine which is growing down the side of the house outside the kids bedroom window. Not only is it huge and ugly but when windy it knocks on the windows and blocks the light. Also I would love to turn this area into a retreat garden.

And this tree (one of two) which was strangely planted under the powerlines 20 years ago.

And we still have to remove this stump. An old almond tree which had to be removed to make way for possible extension and it was in telephone lines.