Make a Better Cup of Coffee

I got a bunch of Great Lakes Coffee from a friend who works for the company and it is the best coffee I've had in my life. Starbucks and any other corporate cafe cannot even compare! I used to enjoy simple coffee, say, from Dunkin Donuts - but now I can't stand the stuff. Now everything from everywhere tastes too burnt, watered down, and all around quite lackluster. Anyways, Great Lakes has great coffee - I made that point.

So while I was in the hospital for a week - some of my coffee was beginning to dry out...the beans were not as oily and aromatic once I got back...and that happens. So I decided to make some of it anyway - it was the Organic Costa Rica stuff. I really hate the taste that not-so-fresh coffee has so I thought of ways to make it taste better:

1. Use the french press! I love the rich taste, body and frothiness you get from using it. Machines are good too - but I think some taste is lost - plus you don't have as much control over it as you do with the press.
2. Before I added the boiling water to the press (its a 32oz press and I fill it with the max amount of coffee, btw) I added about 1/8 tsp each of ground cinnamon and cardamom to the dry grounds plus about 1/2 tsp of vanilla. Its best to add to the grounds and not to your cup afterward - since such powdery spices just sit on the surface and are hard to completely mix in.
   
3. I then added the water and stirred it and pressed it.
4. I poured a cup, added cream and sugar...I ran out of regular sugar so I had to use brown sugar, which I think gave it additional flavor.
5. OMG - it was so tasty and I couldn't even tell the beans were 'getting on'!

It could may well have been that the coffee is just great old or fresh but I highly HIGHLY recommend Great Lakes Coffee - I especially enjoyed the Organic Triple Threat, its awesome!

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