French Press

Trusting that the brief unpleasant era of Freedom Fries and French wine boycotts is finally behind us, I believe it may be time to again extol what may well be the greatest technical achievement in human history for the brewing of coffee and tea. In a world of Starbucks and its clones where specialty expresso mixtures are increasingly served in containers that more closely resemble a supersized Coca-Cola from the drive-thru, the press pot may be an idea whose time has come—again. The revelation first struck me while visiting a small tea room NOT known for its coffee, when I was brought a freshly brewed pot of Tanzania and spent a pleasant hour savoring its contents. It was then that I realized a specialized café built around the press pot rather than the pre-programmed expresso machine might well revolutionize the specialty coffee industry—especially with fancy scones, DSL access and regular exhibits of cutting edge art to build atmosphere. Have an idea for an ancillary business and want to help me get set up in a quaint touristy downtown where we can start out small? Help me buy and rennovate a building for the new venture and you can get some extra space rent free. I’ll even pay taxes and utilities. E-mail me and in the meantime read more about the wonderous French press from Wikipedia here.