Over the past several years, we have made a concerted effort to buy products that are either US made or made in a country that is a friend of the USA. This endeavor is challenging and fun as well as rewarding in terms of quality and utility. Particularly challenging is the acquisition of things that you plug in or put batteries in. A look around your home will confirm the mastery of the Chinese in this arena. This is not a Chinese hit piece, rather a quest for excellence.
I have written about coffee in the past. I didn’t drink the stuff in the years leading up to and through my Army days. I had not “acquired” a taste for it. I suppose that a hard snow, bitter cold and the company of a fellow officer while we waited for the next weather related event on our highways presented the perfect opportunity to swill a cup of Joe as you waited for your trousers from the knee down to dry out and the feeling to return to your feet from your last jaunt down an embankment to check on a driver not up to the task of winter driving. I learned to drink coffee with the big boys back in those days. The quality of the coffee in a truck stop or country cafe hinged on the cleanliness of the pot or big, commercial coffee maker. The tars and black stuff burned into the bottom of a carafe could be a real eye opener. Folks know exactly what I am talking about. Our search for the perfect cup of brew has taken another remarkable turn for the better with the acquisition of our latest coffee maker, a Technivorm Mocha Master. Let’s have a look.
Technivorm is a Dutch manufacturer of coffee makers. They build a brewer for every conceivable need from a little one cup pour over delight, to bigger machines that can service the whole crew on Thanksgiving when coffee is necessary to keep the peace in a family that does not share the same political philosophy. Their coffee makers are aptly named Mocha Master, advertised as the world’s number one rated coffee maker. We have about a week’s experience with a smaller, one cup pour over maker and are quite impressed. My grand-son, a student at Missouri S&T where long hours in books are greatly facilitated with coffee, has become quite the coffee critic. I made him a cup of Keurig stuff and served it next to a cup of pour over from the Mocha Master, in a blind test. He quietly referred to the K-Cup of nectar as awful when compared to the pour over. We agree.
I have written about Starbucks in past musings. It is really awful coffee in the company of clever additives that almost always involve sugar or some other magic potion to change the entire nature of the beverage. The Mocha Master requires 4 minutes to turn out an exact 10.5 oz. cup of the smoothest, most robust coffee that can be had anywhere. Mind you, a quality grind is necessary or nothing is gained, and quality grinds are out there. We grind our own from a select few companies that I have reviewed in the past.
Now for a coffee endorsement. Coffee has been empirically linked to a lower mortality rate. It positively impacts strokes, heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes. It is linked to lower rates of Parkinson’s disease, is shown to keep liver enzymes in check, and strengthens the strands in our DNA. Coffee drinkers have a 26% lower rate of colon cancer and a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. There is an established link between coffee and a lower risk of strokes. All of these benefits are MORE pronounced in the female gender! As a final benefit, I have noticed that a good coffee at first light clears my head and prepares me for a dialogue with Sharon who always rises with a fresh new set of considerations and suggestions for our day ahead. You do not drop your guard around this lady, trust me. Coffee keeps me in the dialogue!
I can whole heartedly recommend the acquisition of a Mocha Master if you really enjoy, make that savor, a cup of coffee first thing in the morning. There is a reason why they are rated at the top of the heap when it comes to the art of coffee brewing on a personal or household level. As we shovel dirt on the disaster known as 2020, let’s give thought to beginning the new year with a cup of God’s own nectar….coffee from a brewer made by people who have been building these things since 1964. You will not be disappointed.
Have a great week!
SR
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