I like to say I like a little coffee with my milk and sugar when really I’ve been trying to get the flavor of coffee I grew up with. Here’s how I remember mi abuela making coffee:
First you go to the A&P to get Bustelo brand coffee beans and then you grind them at the machine provided at the supermarket. I remember this part especially because if you were good, grandma would let you work the machine yourself.
Next, put the grounds in (what I now know to be) a cheesecloth strainer. Put the strainer in a syrup dispenser, pour boiling water into strainer with the coffee. The strainer was long-- as long as the syrup dispenser-- and packed with coffee. I remember my grandmother doing this all day long-- putting the strainer in the dispenser, pour boiling water in it, waiting for the water to get cold, squeezing any cold water left in the drainer, then putting more boiling water in. This went on until the dispenser was filled with dark, thick black coffee.
This syrup dispenser was left on the table with the now cold coffee in it. When you wanted a cup of coffee, you would heat a cup of milk to near boiling, pour the desired amount of coffee from the syrup dispenser, add sugar and drink.
All my adult life I’ve been trying to duplicate this coffee with the ingredients readily available to me but have been falling far short. I’ve given up trying to put coffee into a cup of milk since what I usually end up with is watered down milk. The best I’ve been able to do is at work with a dark Italian roast with a lot of half and half and sugar.
Help me coffee connoisseurs. How can I get the same flavor using supermarket type coffee and a cheap coffee maker.
For beans, if I want to use that coffee maker, I get finely ground coffee beans. WalMart French roast brand is not it. Something very fine, like some Puertorrican coffees, of course (Yaucono, if you find nearby)… or some Colombian coffee…
As to where to find them… somewhere in the island, they still sell those.
I was going to suggest the espresso maker KG linked to. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a Puerto Rican house that didn’t have one.
It’s how I make my coffee on weekends. I use Bustelo, although I was just in a PR restaurant that had some imports, I’m going to get a bag or two next time I’m down there.
I have tried making it in a regular coffeemaker and it just doesn’t taste or smell the same.
Puerto Rican families generally don’t drink the coffee that’s offered to tourists, or the ones that are exported. High quality gourmet coffee is expensive.
My parents may buy some special coffee once in a while, but normally they buy the “cheap” Puerto Rican coffee (like Yaucono).
When I was 12-14 or so, an old man (viejo) from Puerto Rico rented space in our back yard for his small travel trailer (which he lived in). We were pretty tight, and he would make us some coffee on weekend mornings.
Anyway, he had a kettle in which he would boil coffee grounds for a long time, then pour off a cup for each of us and let the remains cool. Later he would add more coffee and water to the kettle and let that boil for a while. We’d have more coffee, made the same way, several times that day, then he’d leave it overnight and add more cofee and water the next day. On the second night, almost always Sunday, he would toss the dregs in the kettle.
Good stuff, IIRC. We also would heat the milk (canned Carnation or Pet) and add the coffee to it. A lot of milk and sugar.
I got to toss the dregs in my cup on the ground, just like he did. I was so cool.
I loved old Juan, and he loved me. He filled a void left by my dead Dad. I worked with him in the fields.
Oh yeah, we ate my sister’s pet turtle. It was good. We had it with a thick bean and rice soup. I wish I could make that yummy soup.
I didn’t tell her until we were much older.
My sister’s tortoise was a desert tortoise, kidnapped from the Mojave Desert, who roamed free in our backyard. He ate well from our veggie garden. Juan thought the tortoise was wild and therefore fair game. After he told me what dinner was, and where he got it, I told him the terrible truth. He actually felt bad, and bought my sister dulces and such. We told her the tortoise must have found a wife and moved away. She was about seven or so.
I seem to remember his coffee of choice was MJB. I should remember because he always gave me the great pleasure of opening the can.
Does that ring any bells for anyone, opening the coffee can and sniffing?
Well, I still sniff coffee cans because I like how it smells.
You’re welcome, Biggirl. If you try it, just know that the coffee that comes out is very strong. Just a small amount is needed, with plenty of milk (either that or a small coffeecup).
You would need to buy the spanish coffee Bustello or Pillon (in a latin supermarket or ethinic section of local supermarket). And to do it the way your grandma did it, and it tastes soooo good, you can buy a cloth coffee strainer from EBay for around 3 bucks.
And walla…you got the taste that you have been looking for if you do it exactly as abuela did it.
Are you having trouble finding Cafe Bustelo coffee? In NYC it is widely available, and cheap. It’s hard to find the whole beans though, I would say 90% of the time it’s sold ground.
Anyway, if you need a substitute, buy a dark type French Roast. I recommend Trader Joe’s Low-Acid French Roast, if you have a Trader Joe’s near you. Whole Foods store brand French Roast is pretty good too. Otherwise Starbuck’s French Roast is probably the brand you’re most certain to find. Don’t even bother with any of that Folger’s crap.
Folger’s ain’t crap. A lot of people really like it, and it keeps them from reducing the supply of the more specialized stuff.
If there’s a Peet’s store in your area, try it. It’s better than Starbucks.
Even better, buy green beans and roast them yourself. It’s easy.
Cafe Bustelo is a brand name for an espresso roast coffee started up in Manhattan way back in the day
Peace,
mangeorge
Those people aren’t trying to recreate abuela’s puerto rican coffee. Perhaps I thought it obvious but by “don’t even bother” I meant “don’t even bother trying to achieve this style of coffee with supermarket grade, pale-roast, acidy bland beans because that would be impossible.”
Peace yourself.
Biggirl, you need a brick of Bustelo, drop me a PM.
I often forget the ;).
Have you tried grinding some good espresso beans then brewing it up using Abuela’s method? When I was in Manhattan there were some little stores that sold thick, black coffee in a bottle that you fixed up at home just as described by Biggirl. They also served it by the cup (glass) that way. I love Manhattan.
I’m just trying to wean people away from that (nasty) Starbucks stuff. < there’s the winky.
Something very fine, like some Puertorrican coffees, of course (Yaucono, if you find nearby)… or some Colombian coffee…
I wish I could make that yummy soup.
< there’s the winky.