Who doesn't love the smell of roasted coffee beans? One of life's little pleasures is squeezing a bag of coffee until a little bit of the trapped aroma escapes and you inhale a whiff of heaven. The only problem is, what that
smells like and what coffee brewed from those roasted beans
tastes like (sans cream and sugar) is quite different!
The first time I tasted coffee that came closest to the aroma of roasted beans was at a little restaurant called the
Mountain Home Inn on the road to Mt. Tamalpias and Muir Woods in Marin County, California. This was in the early 70s and there were no fancy coffee boutiques with $6 prices. I ordered a simple cup of coffee and was amazed at what I was tasting.
Being curious, I asked the server what kind of coffee this was; how was it made. I was surprised to find out that it was good old preground Hills Brothers Coffee, brewed in a commercial coffee maker, using the pure water from the area. Wow... it wasn't so much the coffee as it was the water. That made perfect sense.
It goes to show you, just like in Europe, simple ingredients in the right hands can become masterpieces.
