Saturday, August 12, 2017

cowboy coffee


COWBOY COFFEE
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note: nightshift, Thursday saw another 500 views and Friday over 1500.  You done good.
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note: went back to K-Mart, and all the "season clearances", which were 99% of the store,  were over.  Most prices except shoes were back to fifty percent over Wally.  I just KNOW they are going out of business-it is just getting hard to prove.
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Ah, another article that shouldn’t ever be written but which is needed filler as I can’t come up with a perfect, new, original and highly pertinent subject every single damn day, and yet another self-amusement as I see if I can take a two sentence idea and turn it into 1500 words.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my loyal minions ( note to new readers: this is a term of endearment and if you are a Marine or have a wide stick up your ass, but I repeat myself, and can’t handle this type of humor I respectfully request you get off my damn blog I work rather hard at and go visit any one of the dozens of click bait prepper publications ) and I do strive to give you the best but it simply isn’t doable daily.  Not that this isn’t a very helpful article, just that is doesn’t need to be so long, convoluted, drawn out or so padded.  Cowboy coffee, which I derided for the longest time as being the beverage of mounted bums and homeless who couldn’t afford a proper coffee maker, is actually the next best thing to sliced white bread.

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I’ve been know to hold on to misguided notions for many years, but if I find out I’ve been wrong I don’t mind admitting it.  If you can’t admit to a mistake you can’t better your education and if you can’t do that you can’t advise your readers properly ( and yes, I’m talking to you Alpha Male Survivalist Guru’s stuck with outdated information since you think admitting to a mistake makes you vulnerable in your leadership position.  Gott Damn friggin former military officers, square peg pounding in a round hole mother humpers ).  I was always right to dislike the 9mm, until rimfire ammunition costs necessitated its replacement with a cheaper to reload round for The Forever Gun.  I’ve always hated the M16, no matter how much they claim it has improved, but I know it has many attributes.  I always recommended travel trailers, until their costs started outweighing the benefits.  If your thinking is fossilized, so is your logic.  I hated cowboy coffee, as I thought percolators and French Presses were superior.  Cowboy coffee was just including grounds for breakfast and the result of poor people being unable to afford a specific coffee preparation tool.  And I was mistaken. 

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About five and a half years ago, when the dingus boss of the Food Bank wanted me to study a three hundred page book on food preparation for a test ( the Health Department was insisting ) and I refused as I was already working harder than any two employees, for minimum wage, and it could have only been done if I did so on my own time, the wench dropped me from manager to driver ( after I had doubled their donations, which I had been promised a bonus for which never materialized ) and I got another incompetent turd of a boss.  That made three at the time, as there used to be an assistant director.  That was when my stress level REALLY spiked.  Very shortly thereafter, I started getting heartburn.  I’m sure it was more psychosomatic than age related, and no coincidence.   At first it was easy cured by drinking carbonated water ( seltzer ).  As time went on and the new boss kept upping my work load as she cut my hours, my stress increased far more.

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And my heartburn just got worse and worse.  Since I hate drugs, more often that not trading symptoms for organ or other physical abuse, and was trying to stay natural with treatments, I have to settle for a certain amount of pain and suffering.  Anything that helps decrease the heartburn is very welcome.  I had to stop eating fried foods and tomatoes.  Worse ( and, yes, I know what you are thinking.  Worse than giving up deep fried goodness? ), I had to put sugar and milk in my coffee.  Yes, I had to go from luxuriating in the fifth food group, unencumbered by additives, to drinking nasty old pseudo-hot chocolate or other gay foo-foo drinks.  I like black coffee, not adulterated java.  Hey, I gave up alcohol completely ( not related to heartburn, but to counter tendencies towards excess, the need to stay sharp mentally to write, and my frugality ), caffeinated soda, all but one cigarette a day, now fried foods, AND I have to give up black coffee now, too?  The friggin humanity!  I just chalked it up to the price of old age and the consequences of a stressful job that whittles away at all of our health one way or another. 

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But as I’m watching YouTube, no specific destination but just meandering, I get a recommendation for a video on Cowboy Coffee.  Why not, right?  I’m in no hurry.  And the guy brings up how this method neutralizes the acid in coffee ( I can understand him, having lived in Oklahoma-you might have a time of it.  Kind of like that one mumbling character on the Fox nighttime cartoon, King Of The Hill.  Propane and propane accessories, I tell you what ).  Well, as you might imagine this was very exciting.  I can have my black coffee back?  The next morning I follow the instructions and I was amazed, simply amazed!  You have to understand that my heartburn is no were near under control, just minimized by watching what foods I eat and by drinking a cap of apple cider vinegar every day ( I forgot that one day and it was brutally painful-but it doesn’t cure, it just alleviates most pain ).  I occasionally had tried eliminating sugar or milk, or even both, and it was like sipping pure acid.  My point being, I get serious heartburn at the drop of a hat.  My body would waste zero time telling me if the coffee was acidic ( good thing vinegar is easy to make-just make like wine but a fabric covered jar rather than an airtight one-as I have a five year supply of vinegar but might need more after that ).

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And guess what?  No friggin acid!  The New Old Lady ( NOL ) who has been drinking fake milk powder and fake sugar coffee for the last dozen years, also prefers her coffee black and also tried it, and had no issues with acid.  Praise Baby Jesus, once again proving to me how I am his one and only favorite.  To make cowboy coffee is simplicity itself.  You boil water and add grounds.  No eggshells or other weirdness, just boil water.  Anyone can boil water.  Hell, Rosie O’Donnell or Hilary Clinton themselves could boil water.  Get your water to a rolling boil, add grounds, leave at a rolling boil for two minutes, take off the heat and let sit a minute, then throw in a separate cup of cold water.  Let sit for a minute and the grounds will settle.  You won’t encounter grounds unless you insist on drinking the last cup.  Now, I did it slightly differently as I watched the video once and then tried, only remembering it correctly after I watched the video a second time, but it still worked out rather well.

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I just took the boiling coffee off the burner, threw in the cold water immediately and then poured it through a filter into the glass pot without waiting.  It still worked.  Perhaps it just didn’t taste as good, but we were so excited about the lack of acid we didn’t care.  I chose to transfer it to the regular coffee pot since it got rid of all the grounds and kept it hot, and because I was using a cooking pot and pouring it a cup at a time would have made a mess.  Why buy an enamel camp stove coffee pot ( NOT the percolator type ) for $15-$20 unless I knew this was going to work?  To use a regular pot I just decided to do two separate coffee batches.  Not that I needed to, but the small pot made less of a mess to clean up afterwards.  I preheated six cups of water ( six cups out of twelve, as depicted on the side of the coffee pot, not REAL cups ) in the microwave, since it saves on electric and the NOL wants coffee immediately after her morning smoke or she gets crusty.

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So, while I have the first batch at a rolling boil I can start pre-heating the water for the next.  I also have to stir the grounds around as they at first cling to the sides.  A lot more of a pain in the ass than simply pushing a button, but well worth it.  Of course, it figures that I found this method when I did, since the NOL just bought a back-up drip machine at K-Mart as it was 20% mark down for name brand.  Isn’t that always the way?  Spend money, THEN learn how to save it.  Of course, think of the can milk and sugar I don’t have to use, which is no where near as expensive as that nasty Coffee Mate powder or the less cancer causing “natural” fake sugar, so in the long run even if buying the enamel pot we save money.  And more importantly our stomach and esophagus. 

END ( today's related link http://amzn.to/2hdWaW5 )
 
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35 comments:

  1. Maybe you’re too over extended, and should cut back to weekday articles only, or at least shorter weekend articles. I get that you have some extra time on your hands now, but it’s also challenging to come up with something new and innovating on a daily basis.

    If you add a teaspoon of baking soda to your apple cider vinegar, you will get all of the benefits of the vinegar, without increasing your body’s ph levels to the acid side (cancer thrives in body acidity). Apparently though, you’re not supposed to take this remedy continuously long term.

    My grandfather used to make the coffee that you speak of, but he called it “hobo coffee”. But he was so old that there were probably no coffee pots when he was a kid :D

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I seem to do better reader retention wise at seven days a week.

      Delete
  2. Jim,

    You don't always need to be solving poor folks prepper-problems. The cowboy coffee article was just fine.

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    1. With the recent new reader influx I was kind of throwing all the old stuff back out to introduce the frugal concept. Soon I'll go back to other subjects once I run out of the one type of articles.

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    2. Over the years I've made coffee with every method known to man using coffee ranging from the cheapest to the most expensive I could find. I even tried roasting and grinding my own green beans. Believe me: I've tried everything. Here is the best, easiest cheapest method I know, which I've used for many years now:

      Put one pound of ground coffee in four cups of cold water, stir, and let sit for 24 hours. Stir again sometime in between. Decant. The result is a sort of coffee essence that stores for at least a week. To consume just add about a third cup of essence to however much water or milk you like. Heat, or add ice, as you wish. It is completely non-acidic and makes even the cheapest Walmart dark roast taste great. I've been doing this for about five years now and have no complaints.

      Questions?

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    3. As argued before, this seems wasteful of coffee, using a cold brew. My $6 two pound can lasts one month, one pot a day, drip or cowboy. Post-collapse, you are using up your stores, how much faster does this deplete your stash? I'm not arguing the taste isn't better, just that is seems wasteful.

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    4. Never looked at it that way. You probably have a point. And may I point out that what used to be a two-pound can of coffee now weights (in my Walmart) 24.2 oz? Same price, tho.

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    5. Go to Kroger. It isn't exactly two pounds, more like 30.5, but close enough. I'm down to maybe 10% or less buying from Wally, from a high of 100% prior to their Operation Screw The Customers. Now my Bro-Mance is with Kroger.

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  3. Do ya one better. I started doing a cold brew. Which you can fancy up buying preppy crap and following exaggerated instructions to make it sound so difficult to make it must be good. Take one quart mason jar add 3\4 cup, or less if you are a cheapskate, fill with water, close with lid, shake, open next day, strain, heat, drink. Surprisingly rich, I see no need to buy a new autodrip every other year ever again. Also makes a killer iced coffee. Heating it by the cup, this brew taste fresh for days.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Never tested a cold brew with a normal amount. I'll see tomorrow. I have used the cold brew as a concentrate for iced coffee. It needs to be very strong to complete with the syrup and cream. I would think the strength should be at least equal. The grounds are in the coffee for a long period of time. Get back later and I'll be sure to bring a hat to eat.

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    2. I could be wrong myself. I just sounds from what I heard it takes way to much.

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    3. It was a little weaker, but not by much. Still drinkable. It holds it flavor for a longer period, so if your pot takes more than a day to drink it would make a difference in quality, but I always drink till the pot is empty. It might be worth it if I was rationing my coffee to a cup a day.

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    4. Well, even weaker, if there are circumstances precluding a fire...

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  4. Heartburn isn't your problem, it's a SYMPTOM of the problem. What you have is an overgrowth of candida albicans. Candida is what is designed to break down your body after you die. Anyone who was or is on the standard american diet has an overgrowth (what's supposed to be a post-death level) of it. Do a search on anti-candida diet or candida cleanse, as well as symptoms of candida overgrowth. You'll thank me later.
    Peace out

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure if I want to know, but I probably should check it out. Thanks

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  5. I just found your blog. My brother is a Marine. Ya'll need to go pound something. Not even adding it to my blog list.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. If you're still reading, which I doubt, my son was a jarhead. So what is your point?

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  6. If you recognize the movie this picture comes from, well here are my thoughts about the topic :)

    https://i1.fdbimg.pl/ol34rdu1/1000x590_nwb78i.jpg

    (another hint : Captain Picard may seem benevolent but he "tortured some folks" ;) )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't that the time travel show? Damn, name won't come to me. Not "Sliders", the cheesier one.

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  7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_Theory_(film)

    The hero is very specific about the way to make coffee :) :)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Damn, I was WAY off. Loved that movie, watched it at least three times, and I don't recall the coffee scene.

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  8. "AnonymousAugust 12, 2017 at 6:32 PM

    I just found your blog. My brother is a Marine. Ya'll need to go pound something. Not even adding it to my blog list."
    Good we don't need your type having a snow balls chance in Hell of survival

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I want to be impartial, but...good one. Sounds like his brother gave him the stick.

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  9. We still call this cowboy or campfire coffee in my family, its bang on, love it

    Second the other person, different posts are fine an congrats on readership being up

    For what its worth I like the daily posts

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I'd rather someone not care for todays post and return tomorrow than get the occasional great posts but forget to return. If that makes sense.

      Delete
  10. I too prefer the daily posts. I only suggested cutting out the weekend posts in my post above, because working 7 days a week is a tough gig for most anyone. I understand that it can’t be easy to come up with fresh ideas on a daily basis, but then again, writing is not something that comes natural to me. Even still, I would still think that it would be challenging to come up with original content on a daily basis.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I take one day off a week, double up on writing one day, so it works out good. Sometimes the new material just doesn't come to me so I repeat. Always original writing, rarely original ideas. At least I THINK I always add something new if possible. If I'm motivated and not getting screwed by management I do a kickass job at whatever job I hold. I'm trying to translate that into self-employment and so far you guys are great "bosses". I worry about it but I don't think there are a lot of work arounds to the idea repeats. Always stuff I haven't covered but I need to be knowledgeable in it first. Can't fake through it, plus I try to stay different. Short answer, daily is the least I can do in return, even if it is imperfect. Old problem, just worse of a problem as I strive to improve.

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    2. Oops. "try to stay different" should have read "stay different than other publications". I don't think the world needs more gardening or tactical discussions, for instance.

      Delete
  11. An old school way to get better taste out of cheap coffee is to add a tiny pinch of table salt to the coffee before brewing. Takes any bitterness right out.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I keep hearing that and keep forgetting it. I need to try and remember and test it out.

      Delete
  12. Nightshift here. Glad I could help pump your numbers. Maybe a few good ones will hang around. What's up with my brother was a marine guy? You did time in the service so have a right to an opinion or to pick on other branches. I was Air Force. I really catch it from other services. He doesn't have a right. Coffee gets me too so may have to try this.

    You must be using a new conditioner. Your hair is shining. Lol

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    1. Over double the old numbers, five days now-knock on wood. It had nothing to do with picking on his brother. He saw a negative comment on FLIR scopes and used the stick up ass comment as an excuse.

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    2. But with my FLIR I am undefeatable!!!!

      Nightshift

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    3. Which is why he didn't need my negative thinking. Tony Robins says if we just wish upon a star hard enough, positive thinking will help us survive! :)

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