Cod-Bohemian might also be a fair tag for the Guardian's own brand ... still, despite the lazy shibboleth, it was a good article.

PatrickLondon, Not fair comparing home-percolated coffee with the stuff you bought in diners in the US. How about comparing the bilge water sold as "coffee" in British diner-eqivalents instead?

"It is not really coffee any more. It is globally franchised...."

Well, now, sink me. And here I was thinking coffee(and also tea) for the West had its origins on plantations run on global franchises otherwise known as 'colonies.' Now this good journalist suggests that in the good old days, the stuff of these drinks was raised, bean by bean (or leaf by leaf, as the case may be) by geriatric (as opposed to infantile) bohemians on select plots of land in Tuscany (which, although somewhat lacking the agricultural requirements for these plants, does have the advantage of being Giacomo Puccini's birthplace....)

I don't know about London, but here (Seattle) people with their laptops hang about in espresso cafes for hours. Sort of an updating of a Viennese coffee shop with news over the Internet instead of newspapers. Can't figure out why these people have so much time.

Mimar, they may very well be working. Many people don't work in conventional offices these days, especially in the Seattle area.

Patrick, thanks for the explanation of "cod" -- hard to guess the derivation of that one... :-)

As a tea lover, I have to add that the water must not be re-boiled. I get a lot of grief about the fact that I only add enough water for my tea, and if I need a second cup, I start with a fresh pot of water. Overboiled water is not the done thing.
((c)) <-- teacup

Actually, Miss Prism, I <i>do</i> have boiling water from a tap---one installed for that purpose. When serving tea to a crowd of ladies (flock, posse, gander?) I usually make one pot of very strong tea concentrate, if you will. Another pot, which is replenished as needed from the boiling water faucet in the kitchen, contains plain boiling water. When pouring a cup, the &quot;concentrate&quot; is poured in first---about an ounce. Then the boiling water is poured from the second pot. We make the concentrate from loose tea, not bags.

We thought we had invented this method of serving many people tea, but I was surprised to see it done in N.C., in just the same way. ~o)

Could someone please tell me how to make coffee in a caffetiere? There was one in the flat we rented several years ago (which we didn't try to use), and I see Jean and Lionel using one on As Time Goes By, but I would like to know exactly how it works.

Carolyn

If it's like a Bodum, you need first to understand what level in the pot corresponds to how many cups. If it isn't marked, experiment with cold cups of water in the empty pot until you understand the levels. You can also practice using the plunger using cold water - and remember, never overfill the pot once you make coffee for 'real.'

To make coffee, first boil the water; let it cool slightly as you grind and measure out the coffee. You want fairly coarse, evenly ground coffee.

Measure a fairly generous tablespoon of grounds per 4 oz cup - or you can experiment cup by cup to your taste; add (steadily but not too fast) the just-below-boiling point water. Now wait for the coffee to steep - it generally takes 3 to 4 minutes, but you may have to experiment a bit to get it to your taste. Also, some people like to stir it slightly at this point but I don't generally bother.

After the wait is up, depress the plunger GENTLY to isolate the grounds at the bottom of the pot. Again, this is a simple procedure but you might need to practice a couple of times to ensure how to do it so that no grounds escape from around the filter plunger. Once again, it is critical to avoid over-filling the pot, since you don't want to scald yourself with spilled water.

Serve immediately because the stuff tastes terrible if you leave it in the pot too long. Good luck, and happy coffee drinking.

oops, I'm having trouble editing but I should have mentioned that after adding the water, of course you must position the top/plunger/filter at the top of the pot, in preparation for plunging after steeping. Hope I haven't made this hopelessly confusing.

Thanks, Sue.

My tea sources say that not all teas should be brewed with boiling water; some require a lower temperature, such as my beloved Assam Greenleaf Estate.

Barbara,

<i>However, the term &quot;Great Britain&quot; began in 1603 when James VI of Scotland took over the throne of England upon the death of Elizabeth, becoming James I of Great Britain.</i>

My understanding is that James was king of two distinct nations - hence the references to James I &amp; VI. GB was not formed until the United Kingdom of Great Britain arrived with the Act of Union in 1707. In 1801 it became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Er... Great Britain is the name of the island. The United Kingdom was created when the King of Scotland (James VI) became King of England (James I) <i>as well</i> as Scotland. That was the &quot;Union of the Crowns,&quot; and it was in <b>1603.</b>

The Scottish <i>Parliament</i> merged itself with the Westminster Parliament in <b>1707,</b> the &quot;Union of the Parliaments.&quot;

This was not an especially popular event in Scotland, to wit Robert Burns -

<i>... I'll mak' this declaration
We are bought and sold for English gold
Such a parcel o' rogues in a nation!</i>

For a time following the Scottish rebellions that followed (in 1715 and 1745) it became &quot;fashionable&quot; (among some) to refer to Scotland as &quot;North Britain.&quot; Didn't take.

To Sue xx yy's instructions I'd add that it <i>is</i> important to stir the coffee before pressing the plunger down. I had a Bodum cafetiere explode on me once because the coffee formed a sort of plug and stopped the plunger from going down properly - when I pressed down the whole thing cracked open and boiling coffee spurted everywhere.

&quot;In 1603 when James VI of Scotland became James I of England, a new international entity was created: Great Britain&quot;

http://www.unionofthecrowns.com/story/06/

&quot;Overboiled water is not the done thing.&quot; Not just not done, but bad for the flavour, apparently becauseit drives out the oxygen. The water should be poured from the kettle as soon as it comes to the boil.

And I don't think that warming the pot was mentioned, was it ? I have to admit I usually use a teabag in a mug, but I always warm the mug :-)

&quot;Actually, Miss Prism, I do have boiling water from a tap---one installed for that purpose. When serving tea to a crowd of ladies (flock, posse, gander?) I usually make one pot of very strong tea concentrate, if you will. Another pot, which is replenished as needed from the boiling water faucet in the kitchen, contains plain boiling water. When pouring a cup, the &quot;concentrate&quot; is poured in first---about an ounce. Then the boiling water is poured from the second pot. We make the concentrate from loose tea, not bags.&quot;

Aaah, I can't believe everyone's let this one go. Tea concentrate for Pete's sake! Sacrilege!

Yes &quot;tea concentrate&quot; forsooth.
..and boiling water from the tap too.

Americans usually make good coffee. Why not serve coffee and cakes to your posse of ladies?
Horses for courses ;-)

&quot;In 1603 when James VI of Scotland became James I of England, a new international entity was created: Great Britain&quot;

Not so. The idea had been around since his succession became an inevitability, and James proposed the unification of parliaments into a single state soon after arriving in London. Both parliaments talked about it and around it, and backwards and forwards, until he took the hint and let it drop. The term had no real meaning beyond the vanity of the Stuarts until the Act of Union in 1707.

&gt; When pouring a cup, the &quot;concentrate&quot; is poured in first---about an ounce. Then the boiling water is poured from the second pot. We make the concentrate from loose tea, not bags&lt;

I hate to say this, but that is exactly what your average greasy spoon does to cope with an inrush of sweaty builders.

hanl

What a nasty experience. I wonder if the coffee formed a plug because of the presence of too many fines in the grounds. Depending on the type of filter in the plunger, I can see how the fines could jam the filter, thus preventing an adequate backflow of water through the filter during plunging.

My own coffee grinder I suspect wasn't really designed to deliver the kind of grounds needed for cafetieres - I've come up with a kind of 'pulse - agitate' technique when grinding to circumvent the limitations of the grinder, and so as to get the grounds evenly ground, with none getting overground. Either way, your solution is probably a smart one and certainly can't hurt. (Many people feel the stirring helps the extraction and they're probably right.)

The more I think about this, the more this apparently simple procedure, ain't. For example, I'm lucky to live where the water is soft and quite good tasting straight out of the tap. I also live at sea level. I've never tried to make coffee with hard water, or at elevations much above sea level. Experts vary their opinions as to the temperature of the water, with some saying as low as 85 degrees C and others as high as 98 degrees C. I throw up my hands and say, experiment - both with one's conditions, and how one likes the final result: if too weak, aim for a higher temperature of water to start, if too bitter, try a lower.

I have to admit I didn't notice a difference in my tea when I moved frpm a very hard water area to a very soft water area - just that the cups get less stained and the kettle doesn't fur up.

My water's very soft since it's direct from the sky with no man-made interference (cistern.) One nice thing is that when I make tea here, there isn't an oily-looking film on top after a while as there is when I make the same tea in London.

lol &quot;I hate to say this, but that is exactly what your average greasy spoon does to cope with an inrush of sweaty builders.&quot;

I guess the builders and ladies have more in common than might have been guessed! We don't serve coffee in the afternoon because there's too much caffeine. I really don't care that much for tea, but it's a hot beverage with significantly less caffeine than coffee, and I cannot bring myself to serve decaffeinated coffee. :)

As the old sayings have it:

&quot;well, it's warm and it's wet&quot;

or

A: &quot;Looks like rain&quot;
B: &quot;Tastes like tea&quot;

Carrybean is right about London water (very hard): that's why I invested in a kettle with a built-in filter.

Remember James Joyce?

-When I makes tea I makes tea, as old mother Grogan said. And when I makes water I makes water....
BEGOB, MA'AM, says Mrs Cahill, GOD SEND YOU DON'T MAKE THEM IN THE ONE POT.

We don't wish to know about that, Josser!

Actually Yorkshire tea do a special blend for hard water areas.

MissPrism: long post and I didn't weed through all the replies.....might have been answered!

Yes, I believe it IS possible to get a special tap that has boiling water at all times. Sounds nice, though I'm not sure how popular it has become.

It is certainly possible. We've had one for years. There is a separate tap at the sink that dispenses filtered water (in addition to the reverse osmosis system, we are on a well) that is either cool, or boiling hot. I don't know the exact temp, but I know that when I am running short on time I can fill up a pot with water from that tap, put it on a burner and it is at a roiling boil in less than one minute. We can have pasta on the table in 10 minutes. DH uses it by the cup for instant coffee when he's in a hurry.

&lt;&lt;Putdowns of Starbucks and its imitators are so common now, cliches themselves&gt;&gt;

And this one, like most cliches, is based on a fundamental truth.

FWIW, if Starbucks would just elimate &quot;to go&quot; cups, you would not be hearing a peep about how they are contributing to the downfall of civilized society...

All the talk about tea and no mention of samovar!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samovar

The &quot;tea concentrate&quot; doesn't mean you get an inferior product; if done properly, the results are great. In many middle eastern countries, this is how tea is brewed with a teapot on a samovar.

Nobody forces anyone to go to Starbucks. They don't have any magic powers of persuasion. They're not clogging the airwaves and magazine pages with advertisements. Yet they are full of customers who are decidely not tourists. Also, there is more than a touch of hypocrisy in all these anti-Starbucks rants. It's a rare day when someone posts about the evils of Coffee Republic, or Costa Coffee or Caffe Nero or Jacquemotte's, etc.
A British reporter I know was putting on the usual anti-Starbucks dog and pony show at a conference in Vienna. Yet I happened to catch him redhanded ordering a latte at the Vienna Starbucks on the Karntnerstrasse (where there are plenty of alternatives). He hemmed and hawed and then rushed away saying he had a doctor to interview.

It's the same with some of those healthy diet promoters. One of the U.S. tv network physicians had put out a healthy eating book and was all over the network promoting the evils of fried, fatty foods.
But during the book promotion frenzy, one of my colleagues ran into him at an AIDS conference chowing down a huge double portion of cheese fries. &quot;Is that in your book?&quot; my colleague asked him. The only reply was a furious glare.

BTilke, I think the reason a lot of us, at least in the UK, resent Starbucks is because within a very short time there seemed to be one on every street corner in every town centre - and as such they are the most obvious manifestation of the way every high street is becoming the same.

BTW I've never been in a Starbucks - but that's because I don't like coffee !

And while I've never tried their products, the &quot;coffee-flavoured milkshake&quot; made me laugh : I've often wondered, when I've seen signs outside for the latest &quot;mango frapuccino&quot; or whatever, whether these actually involve coffee at all !

And I just don't understand the whole 'coffee to go' thing. The other day I noticed an obvious tourist waiting for a bus in Edinburgh city centre while clutching a Starbucks cardboard bucket, and thought: I hope the driver doesn't let him on with that, that's dangerous (assuming the contents were hot).

I always get a coffee to go from Costa. Two reasons: if I'm with my husband, he drinks his a LOT faster than I do and then gets impatient having to wait around for his slow-poke wife. The second is that I can't drink coffee that's really HOT, I prefer to wait 10-15 minutes til it cools to my preference. So I'll start it inside, then leave to finish it while I stroll.
But I agree with you, people shouldn't be taking their hot drinks onto buses. I thought most buses prohibited that anyway. However, it seems to be perfectly ok to do it on the Tube, I see that all the time. In fact, it seems to be THE accessory for the suits crowd in the morning.

In my mind, the worst thing about Starbucks and all of the other coffee chains is that they press home the fact that it is <i><font color="red">almost impossible</font></i> to get a good cup of tea out! I almost never order tea out -- even after a nice dinner, I go home to have my tea. Why waste the money?
((c))

Starbucks doesn't only sell coffee, but you'd have to go inside and look at the menu to see that. My son and I laugh about how there seem to be more Starbucks in the UK than in San Diego, where we live. As they're pretty smart at marketing, one assumes that there are plenty of customers in Britain. I like Starbucks. I just wish I'd had the idea first!

ESM thanks for the Samovar link. I never really knew what they did--just assumed they were interestingly-shaped containers for the tea.

So, tea concentrate isn't that awful, after all!