World's Cheapest Pot Of Coffee

Steppin' over the line to a totally cheap cup of Joe

Some people will go to the ragged frontiers of cheapness to embrace and ring out the final cents from a dollar; admit it...you're thinking of ways right now to save a little. It's okay. In fact, some financial humility is something most of Western Civilization could use in these tough times - even if the living is easy. Conspicuous Consumption is currently passe. Value Village is in.

I also have been trying to save a penny here and there when possible. Bread heal sandwiches, lunches from dinnertime leftovers, doggie bags from restaurants. David doesn't like bread crusts, so I dry them out and put them in my spaghetti and sauce that I take to work for lunch. The examples can go on and on.

Today I reached that frontier, the one with a fork in the road which leads to either Cheapocity or Crazyland. While looking at the used coffee grounds from the morning pot of coffee, I asked myself "Why don't people reuse these?" I know they are reused for compost etc. but why not for more coffee? Before you say "Umm YEWW!" hear me out. While I've been told many reasons I could never substantiate any of them. I also could not substantiate the legend that pioneers coming across the plains reused their coffee grounds over and over, because they didn't have new product. But it makes sense. From that I surmised that method - if valid - would simply create weaker coffee because the flavor had been brewed out of it. So if that was true, why not just double the amount of grounds?

So that is what started my project of brewing the World's Cheapest Pot Of Coffee, by using two days worth of used/refrigerated coffee grounds to make one new pot. It was definitely worth a try; since we have a reusable coffee filter in our machine, the only thing I would be out is 12 cups of water and about 15 minutes of brewing time.

FAIL

The result: a cup of coffee with the same consistency of Earl Grey Tea. Even with double the grounds the coffee still came out weak. It didn't taste bad, more like it barely taste at all. sure, it talked a good game with the nose while brewing; the impression was that it would to be the strongest, tastiest, most well-rounded pot of coffee on the planet. After all, this Deja Vu Blend was made from the grounds of coffee beans from Kuaui Hawaii, with a touch of Yused Yuban mixed in. But the proof, sadly, was in the "cupping" (to use an industry term that sounds more like someone getting a the tar beat out of them at a Wine Tasting). While tan in color it was weak enough to actually suck yesterday's caffiene out of my body through the tongue.

I think this experiment debunks the pioneer myth, at least using this method, because no tough guy settler on the Oregon Trail would be caught dead with hot beige water in their tin cup. This is Test #1; I will try other combinations of coffee grounds!