I won’t go as far as calling myself a “coffee Snob” but I am pretty close. After all, coffee and beer have a lot of things in common, especially if you like bold roasted flavors. I have always contended that the people who insist they hate dark beer, but then have a cup of black French roast coffee in the morning are just in denial.  

I am the only “real” coffee drinker in my household. My wife and daughters will drink something that they like to call coffee, but after they add all of the vanilla or caramel syrup and the rest of the “foo-foo”, they are basically drinking something more akin to hot cocoa. My flying “café solo” has probably cost me many dollars over the years.

When I am in town, I work from home with coffee as my co-pilot in the morning. This means I wind up grinding my beans and making a nearly full pot of coffee, because anything less just doesn’t seem to work out with my Melitta drip coffee-maker. I wind up drinking one large fresh cup and basically dumping the rest after some time. Sometimes I even disgust myself by being miserly and re-heating the cold and oxidized leftovers in the microwave… Yuk!

In recent years there has been a wave of new “single-serve” technologies that promised to deliver the ultimate coffee experience, one cup at a time. I tried the pods, The Nespresso cups and I could never agree with the hype. The coffee always tasted watered down.

I have been a “single-serve” skeptic for a long time. For me, the physics just didn’t work out; how could you possibly get three different serving sizes from what already appears to be “not enough ground coffee” for a proper cup? Then along came the K-cup technology from Keurig. Sometimes, you have to throw caution to the wind and last week (backed by the Sam’s Club return policy) I picked up my new Keurig B-66 Single Serve coffee maker. The unit came with 90 different K-cup coffee servings to try. What the heck…

My coffee drinking life has changed dramatically. I am not going to tell you that the unit is perfect. The taste of the coffee will depend on the brand of K-cup coffee you use (just like “normal” coffee). I have found that among the included samples, Timothy’s brand seems to be one of the best, followed by Newman’s Own. Green Mountain tastes like crap and the tea? Yes they actually are selling K-cup tea… Forget about those and just use the machine to dispense hot water (Tea is already single-serve!)

Now back to physics. How does this thing make a decent cup of Joe with half of the coffee normally required? First of all the unit brews the coffee by dispensing the water directly over the grind under pressure and at the exact 192 degree temperature. This maximizes extraction (without bitterness) and because the K-cup has a built in filter, the coffee is very finely ground to give more surface area. The fine grind would never work in a drip coffee maker due to the lack of pressure and relying on gravity. This isn’t rocket science folks… (actually it is).

What about the cost and availability of K-cup coffee? I am going to be purchasing my Coffee via Amazon.com, but they are available at Target stores and Sam’s. The Timothy’s Kona blend I just ordered will cost me about 30 cents a cup. Not bad for a good cup a Joe. My experimentation has determined that Timothy’s and Newman’s coffees are just about perfect when selecting the medium size cup which is 7.25 ounces. The coffee seems a bit watery when using the large cup setting and very strong on the small.

As an “almost coffee snob”, I can vouch for this K-cup technology. I now find myself having an occasional evening cup of Timothy’s De-Caf Columbian; something I couldn’t have done before without wasting a lot of coffee and a lot of Dinaro to boot.  

House Bill 2719 has been introduced and is sitting idle in the House Judiciary Committee. This year’s bill is very simplified and to the point; West Virginia should raise the permissible alcohol limit to 12%ABV on “non-intoxicating” beer (Which defines all beer sold in the state).

I really hope this is the year! West Virginia stands only with Alabama (and Mississippi?) in proclaiming our utter ignorance when it comes to modernization of our beer laws. We can change this very easily and with absolutely nothing but a positive effect on consumer choice. There is no downside to this thing, unless you are a greedy, protectionist beer distributor; why would you support the idea of possibly cannibalizing a market in which you currently have 100% control? The distributors that still think that way are much fewer than just a couple of years ago. Most of them now realize that bringing craft beer to the market will expand their customer base and at a much higher profit margin to boot. The fact also stands that the major brands they sell are now owned by huge global beer producers that want an increasing market share of all of their brands, not just the low margin commodity brands that are sold into the most competitive sector of the beer market. The local boys are being pushed to sell wider portfolio of product, and I love it! Smaller craft beer brewers will ride the coat-tails of the big boys because they can command even a higher margin for their handiwork.

Please, let’s all keep an eye on this thing. Send a note to your delegates and also let Delegate Carrie Webster know that you want this bill to move out of the judiciary committee in time to go through the “Bill Mill” down there at the Golden Dome…

Read “How a Bill Really becomes law in West Virginia” by Phil Kabler

Check the status of HB2719

*** Note *** The Alabama Legislature is moving to pass a similar bill this session and very well may leave us standing alone and as ignorant looking as ever… Their bill is out of committe and on the way to passage!