Escapees September-October 2022

Extraction (the highfalutin way to say, “making co ff ee”) There are more ways to prepare your perfect cuppa today than you can shake a stick at. As to be expected, experts recom mend you grind your coffee beans fresh, if not daily, at least every week. Finer grinds for espresso all the way up to coarser grinds for cold brew. One of the easiest ways to make coffee at home is a pour-over. As fancy as the glass contraption, called a Chemex, to as basic as a porcelain, plastic or collapsible silicone cone that sits atop a cup, you simply add coffee grounds to a fi lter, pour hot water over the grounds, and your coffee drips to perfection. What makes it so delicious is the fact that the grounds are saturated for the majority of the brewing process, bringing out all the tasty goodness. The French press sounds fancy but it’s a simple steeping method, combining coffee grounds and hot water, steeping and then pressing and lightly compacting the grounds to the bottom of the press. It produces delicious coffee—some people swear by this method—but can have a little sediment in it, so, if that’s a problem for you, this isn’t your ideal way to make coffee. Cold brew is a hot commodity. It’s another easy steeping method that uses time rather than heat. Use a coarse grind, combine with room temperature water and allow it to sit anywhere from a few hours to overnight, depending on how strong you like your cold brew. Circling back to a modi fi ed percolating concept is the Moka pot. Bialetti is my brand but there are several others from which to choose. Found in every Italian kitchen around the world, this little stove top gem uses pressure to push cool water (in the form of steam) from the bottom chamber of the pot, through fi ne grounds, depositing an espresso-like coffee in the top chamber. It’s the closest to a pump-driven coffee shop espresso, and it’s terri fi c. By the way, when talking about espresso, we might think that more water lessens the caffeine but alas, that’s not true. The longer the extraction, the more caffeine.

EVANNE SCHMARDER is sure she got the wanderlust bug from her grandparents. In 2000, she and her husband, Ray, set o ff on their own adventure in search of a sunny place to settle down. Eighteen-plus years later, they’re still roaming the country, sharing interesting destinations and cooking up delicious RV kitchen recipes in their popular RV Mornings or afternoons, with friends or in quiet contemplation, hot and strong or milky cold, there’s a coffee for every mood. Take time in your travels to discover some of the other 1,998+ coffee roasters honing their craft in anticipation of your visit. I’ll leave you to it, but right now, my Moka pot is gurgling my name. Bagging Beans To make a stellar cup of coffee, regardless of the extraction method you choose, requires great coffee beans. Luckily for RVers, this dovetails perfectly with our travels. Sure, you can get good enough grocery store coffee but, when the entire country is your bean bag, why? With over 2,000 specialty roasters in the U.S., there’s always a winner where you happen to be. My husband, Ray, and I love to visit local coffee shops that roast their own beans, picking up a pound if the roast strikes our fancy. And if that’s not convenient, high-quality beans are always available for purchase online. Everyone is familiar with Starbucks, one of the fi rst, alongside Peet’s, to rev up the specialty coffee market but Blue Bottle, out of Oakland, California, and now throughout California, in Boston, Chicago, New York, D.C. and internationally, has become an industry reference with their Oakland Light roast. Another heavy-hitter, founded in Durham, North Carolina, Counter Culture is one of the most respected coffee roasters in the nation. While primarily an online operation, you can visit shops and stores nationwide that stock their freshly-roasted coffee, including Whole Foods, Sprouts and some Targets, too. Surprising, right? If only the best (very subjective) will do, Food & Wine magazine has a 2022 list of the “best coffee roaster in every state.” Google it and prepare to take notes. Time For a Co ff ee-break

SIX CUP CLASSIC CHEMEX®

BODUM CHAMBORD FRENCH PRESS COFFEE MAKER

PRIMULA BURKE DELUXE COLD BREW ICED COFFEE MAKER

BIALETTI MOKA EXPRESS 6 CUP SILVER, 6800

TV series, RVCookingShow.com.

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ESCAPEES Magazine September/October 2022