Jet lag. Not fun coming, but not so bad going. You can get a lot done when you’re wide awake at 3 a.m. and back in your own home.
Trouble is, the coffee shop you normally go to is not open until 6. What to do?
Pull out your Bialetti
Yes. The Euro-style coffee thing you got in Italia many years ago. Because although you’re sick of tea for now, you quite fancy a thick, Euro-style cup of coffee.
But it does involve a bit of assembly.
The rest of it's in here. I think.
The impediments are many. What if you can’t find the other bits? What if it doesn’t work anyway? Sometimes you don’t assemble it right and the coffee never percolates. Other times it works marvelously. It’s almost as if you have no control over it.
Keep looking…
None of these will make coffee
There’s always 7-11. That’s open 24-hours a day, remember?
Ah HA! Found them.
OK. Pack your espresso. Now THINK, Julie. How do you assemble this right so that the boiling water gets sucked up through the coffee and percolates?
Where does the washer go?
It’s not this way…
This won't work.
OK, OK, OK. Fill the bottom part with water, put the espresso cap in, then the top cap, and put the washer in the bottom of the top….oh hell. This is why you could never be a technical writer.
Hope for the best.
Once the Bialetti is, to the best of your knowledge, ready to go, set it on a medium flame and listen. A bubbling sound is good. No bubbling sound is bad.
When the bubbling sound stops, gingerly check to see if you have espresso in the top part…
It worked!!
Pour your victory drink into a festive cup.
Add heated milk...
Maybe you have a steamer, maybe you don’t. Maybe you did once but can’t find it now. Whatever your situation with the milk, just heat it and add it to the espresso. You don’t want to drink that stuff uncut.
A spoonfull of sugar helps the espresso go down...
And enjoy! Here’s to your productive day!
The only cup of coffee you will ever need. For today.
Still don’t get it? Here’s a sort of dorky but helpful video about how to work a Bialetti.
