morning coffee

Good morning Dear Hearts Found this image online a while back. It literally stopped me dead in my tracks. I had to whip out my calculator and check for myself.

Here’s how it breaks down: A 12-ounce tall coffee at your favorite quick brew kiosk will cost between $1.95 and $2.15, depending on your location. A simple lunch “out” runs from $10 to $22 per person, and that’s without a beverage. And…adding in a mid-morning or afternoon trip back to that quick brew kiosk for an iced tea or a soda can add $2.94 and upwards to the daily total.

So…add it all up and you get between $16.89 and $27.09 spent almost every working day. When you add in the miscellaneous treats and trips over the weekends…. Well…just WOW!

It’s true $ 27.40 per day, times 365 days gets you $10,001.00. WOW!

Okay…I know this may be a revolutionary idea for some of today’s young people, but you can actually make good coffee at home. Do the math. If you normally spend $2.95 per cup (and that’s at the lowest end of the quick brew kiosk menu) six times in one week that’s $17.52 a week, times 50 weeks. That’s a whopping $876.00 in your pocket at the end of a year to spend on something that won’t run right through you in 4 hours! Like maybe a nice vacation?

Here’s a recipe that I copied from my Auntie’s 1902 cookbook. This stuff tastes amazing. And guess what? You can make a pot, freeze it in ice-cube trays and grab a cup to be thawed in the microwave as you head out the door.

Boiled Coffee

1 cup medium ground coffee
1 cup cold water
2 tablespoons slightly beaten egg
6 cups boiling water

Process: Put the coffee in a bowl; beat egg slightly with a fork. Add two tablespoons of the beaten egg to the coffee. Add one half cup of cold water. Mix well and turn into an enameled lined coffee pot, previously scalded. Add six cups boiling water; pack the spout of the coffee pot with soft paper, place on range and bring to boiling point. Boil four minutes from the time coffee begins to boil. Stir down and add remaining half cup of cold water. Pour off a cup to clean the spout of grounds return to coffee pot and place the latter over a simmer burner to keep hot but do not boil. Let stand ten minutes. If for any reason the coffee must stand longer than that, strain it from the grounds and keep it at a uniform temperature until ready to serve. Serve with hot cream. Change of temperature affects the coffee very materially.

Cafe au lait

Follow the recipe for Boiled Coffee,
using three cups of boiling water
and three cups scalded milk.

When the coffee is placed over simmer burner to ripen, scald the milk in a double boiler, then combine the two. This is a most delicious beverage and serves the purpose well when cream is scarce.