First things first. I have to get this out of the way. Starbucks has what they call a French roast. What that means is that they take it to a medium cinnamon-brown (ideal), then roast it twice as long (Italian roast, not awesome but not awful either), and then roast it for half again as long (French roast, turns darkest, still acceptable but only marginally), then they do it for another ten or fifteen minutes (charcoal, i.e. what Starbucks things is sophisticated). Their coffee, in other words, is basically just terrible. They manage to roast it long enough to destroy all the flavor-oils. By that point, you need cream or other whitener just to make it barely potable.
Okay, onward.
My RLSO has a French press, which is ideal for most people. You pour the boiling water over the coffee in the press, let it steep for one to two minutes, and press down the grounds. This method allows the most contact of water to beans, yet doesn't permit over-steeping to the point of bitterness.
I prefer my
jezve (Turkish coffee pot), also known as cezve or ibrik (Ibrik is the Greek word for it). I buy
Caribou Coffee's lighter blends, such as Kenya roast, normally, but sometimes I buy unroasted beans and roast them lightly myself. A lighter roast will bring out the flavor but not kill it or turn it bitter. Ideally you'd grind this just before a meal, and serve the coffee afterward. If you can't do that, grind a very little at a time, then store it in an airtight container in the freezer until you want to use it. After roasting the beans, I also roast a spice mixture: one cardamom pod, one whole clove, one allspice seed, three small anise seeds or one star-anise, one-half a cinnamon stick, and about three grinds from a whole nutmeg seed. Set aside.
Then I grind the beans (or have Caribou do it for me) to powder-fine consistency -- if you have this done, ask for "Turkish grind." Caution: a regular home grinder won't do this, so you'll have to invest in a rather expensive steel burr or stone burr grinder that specifically states that it can do Turkish grind, which is even finer than espresso grind. After grinding the coffee, I grind my spice blend in a different grinder, to the same ultra-fine consistency, and freeze that in a separate airtight container.
To prepare: one heaping teaspoon of ground coffee per 8 ounces of filtered water, plus one-quarter teaspoon of spice blend per cup, plus one heaping tablespoon of sugar (I like brown sugar, agave syrup, or turbinado sugar, but plain white sugar will do just as well). Turn the stove on high and set the jezve on top. DO NOT STIR. Let the water come to a boil. The coffee will froth towards the top of the jezve. Remove from heat and turn heat to simmer. Skim solids off the top of the coffee (again, DO NOT STIR) and dump them out. Return to heat. Do this for a total of four boil-ups (the first of which was on high, the rest of which are on simmer). Keep skimming off the top, and do not ever, ever stir the coffee. Ever. Ever. If you stir the coffee, I will hunt you down, I swear.
Serve in a
demitasse, also known as an espresso cup. Drink until the coffee tastes thick. This will be a very strong coffee, yet it will not need cream, because you (or Caribou) didn't over-roast the beans.
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