The Perfect Cup

Flying M Coffeehouse, Boise, ID

What does coffee have to do with Beards? As far as I'm concerned, everything. Especially if it's real coffee, not the 40 Fathom Coffee my parents make (even when it's 40 fathoms deep, you can still see the bottom of the cup), or the non-coffee-flavored coffee where they pour hot flavored milk into a cup and wave a coffee bean over it. I'm talking real coffee. The kind where you have to swish your cup around in order to not end up with a dark sludge in the bottom of the cup when you're done. That kind of coffee and Beards go together like...well, like real coffee and Beards. No further explanation necessary.

Coffee has played an important part in The Beardsmith™ story. A shared love of coffee was the catalyst for striking up a conversation with Wendy when we met. When I saw her French press, I knew she was my kind of woman. Since then, coffee has been an integral part of our life together. We're both total and complete coffee whores, and it's an indulgence we feed throughout the day, every day. Our perfect end to a day is to brew up some coffee, relax on the blue nest (more to come about that in a later post) and unwind.

For years, I worked a block from Flying M Coffeehouse in Boise and was there a couple times a day on most days. It's the kind of place where you walk in and immediately know you want to grab some coffee, sit down and just hang out for a while. It's a place for people of all flavors to congregate. It's not uncommon to sit down on one of the plush couches and have a complete stranger start talking with you as though you're their best friend. And it's loaded with Bearded guys. It's where we met Victorio, who has unofficially become the official Beardsmith model. And Flying M roasts their own coffee beans. It is, hands down, my favorite coffee in the world. It's only fitting that we included Flying M coffee in our Beardsmith Beard Grease™.

So how does one make the perfect cup of coffee? In my book, there's only one way: with fresh coffee beans and a French press. Here are the steps to making the most luscious coffee that can be had:

• You must start with fresh-roasted, freshly-ground beans. I always thought what made a good bean was the amount of oil you can see on the outside of it. The darker the roast, the more likely the oils are to come to the surface. However, the more dry the bean looks on the outside, the fresher the bean.
• Start some water to boil and grind your coffee. I recommend a good burr grinder instead of a blade grinder (here's a good article on why). For a 32 oz French press, grind enough beans for 8 cups and pour the ground coffee into the press.
• Once the water is boiling, turn off the heat, let it sit for a few seconds and allow it to come off the boil a little (180-190 degrees is ideal). Pour the water into the French press until full. Do not put the plunger on the press at this point.
• Let it sit. The grounds will absorb some of the water and the water level will go down. If the level goes down drastically, thank yourself for having really fresh beans.
• After 2 minutes, stir the mixture, add water to fill it back up, place the plunger on the French press and press it down half way. Wait.
• After another 2 minutes, press the plunger all the way down.
• Pour.
• Enjoy.

I use cream in my coffee. As in CREAM. Not milk, not half-and-half, but full on heavy whipping cream. I add just enough to make it a dark caramel color. Carly Simon runs through my head every time I make coffee, because when the perfect amount of heavy cream is added to the rich, dark love that comes from a French press, it looks like clouds in your coffee.It balances everything perfectly, leaving you with a full-bodied, smooth cup of coffee that makes you close your eyes, part your lips and slowly exhale after the first sip.

So there you have it. The perfect cup of coffee, along with a little background about The Beardsmith and how we came to include Flying M Coffeehouse coffee in our Beard Grease (which, consequently, is available at Flying M).