The Little Grinder that Could

When a building-wide, freak power outage struck 228 Mott St yesterday just after sunset, panic broke out amongst the coffee-seeking, snow-storm-refugees at Gimme! "No Coffee?!"

But there was hope..

With no power, all of our staple coffee making appliances (espresso machine, and grinders) were non-responsive, rendering them useless to us. So we moved on to what we had:

Light: Being a truly "freak" power outage, we were somehow left with one set of ceiling track lights in the cafe! What Luck!

Hot Water Our BUNN Brewing system's hot water tank was full and would maintain temperature for a couple of hours at least!

But how to grind coffee and then brew it?

Da-da-dah!
Everything we happened to need was on the counter right before our eyes! A Hario Skerton Hand Mill, a Clever Dripper, and last, but not least: delicious coffee!

With no time to waste, we got right to work!
First off we adjusted and set the grind on our Hario Grinder. Since we didn't have a calibrated grinder available to check our grind size against, Johnny just estimated, aiming for something slightly coarser than a cone drip.

After we had the grind set, it was time to dose out (or weigh) the amount of coffee we would be using. Head over to the scale.. Oh, wait.. That's right. No power!

Once again, having only his good judgment to go by, Johnny scoops out roughly 2 Tablespoons of coffee, which seems to be about the 18 grams needed.

What Next?

Grinding Time! We ground, and ground, and ground, and ground...and then ground.
Johnny may have tried to hide the fact that we were having loads of fun, but if that's the case, then he did a terrible job of it! Look at that smile!

Once the ground coffee and hot water were added to the Clever, our job got pretty simple: Sit back and wait.

Making coffee this way may have been slow going, but I found it to be very enjoyable. Outside the weather was awful, so the long wait was welcomed, and with no music to fill the silence, voices took it's place, turning strangers into friends.

It wasn't long before our small, dark shop became a warm refuge, full of conversation and laughter.

I loved making coffee like this. There is something really nice about doing each step by hand with such care, then giving that coffee to someone and seeing their face light up after the first sip!

Aside from doing dishes in complete darkness, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything!


Thank You Hario Skerton Hand Mill, You Saved the Day!!