An Intriguing Blend

I'm a coffee lover, as you might have guessed from reading through my backposts. I'm not a regular coffee drinker though, and by that I mean I don't stick to one brand, nor am I a coffee snob who only drinks freshly ground or some such thing. I like granulated coffee. I have a coffee maker, it was a present from my sister Suzanne and her then fiance (my mate Mads) last Xmas. It was a nice present, it still is, but it's not who I am.

I'm not the kind of person who wants to bother with all the fuss and hassle of making a freshly ground cup of coffee, what with the waiting ages for the machine to brew it and drip it into the jug. And the coffee being warm, not hot, so that when the milk is added (and I like a lot of milk in my coffee), it is practically cold. Plus, theres the expense. Ground coffee costs more, you get a lot less of it for your money and you use a lot more of it at a time. All in all for a guy on a tight budget, it's not good.

Thank the various divine ones then for granulated coffee, my saviour! Only I don't stick to one brand then either, instead I have what I term "The Blend". The Blend is a 300gram glass coffee jar that began as a jar of Maxwell House. Ever since that ran low, I've taken to buying a couple 100gram jars of coffee, usually two different brands and emptying them in to fill the jar up. Then I'll shake it all about, until the granules are well and truly mixed up.

Which brings me to the current blend I'm drinking as I type this. Currently it is made from about 50grams of the dregs of the last blend, with a 100gram jar of Buendia Columbian coffee and a 100grams of Kenco Rappor. It was nice but it seemed a little lacking. Tony however, has decided to give up caffeine (I have no idea why), so I've helped him out by adding the couple small jars of coffee he had into the blend. After all if he doesn't have the coffee, he can't be tempted to drink it. They were 50grams of Tesco dark roasted (though there was maybe 20grams left of it tops), and a 50gram jar of an Amaretto flavoured coffee, which went in as well.

The resulting mix is arguably the nicest blend I've yet managed to put together. It is certainly not the strongest blend I've made (the one that had 100grams of Rocket Fuel coffee in it takes that prize with ease), but it has to be the best tasting one so far. It won't last of course. I drink at least a pint of coffee a day. And it would cost too much to make it again, also it would never be exactly the same a second time around. But then that's part of what I like about my coffee, it is ever changing.

I first started making a blend when I was at University, and when I moved into my old flat back in 2002 it just seemed like a good tradition to pick up and continue with. It is part of what makes me who I am.