Coffee

To make great coffee you really have to know a little about the history of coffee.
Coffee in fact comes from roasted seeds of the coffee plant first known in Ethiopia in the 9th Century.

 
There are two common varieties Coffea Robust and Coffea Arabica.

Coffee plants are grown in fairly hot places like South America,Southeast Asia and in Africa.
The seeds are dried after picking then roasted.
Different roasting times produce different flavours.
If you buy coffee in its roasted beans form and keep it in an airtight container it will retain its flavour longer than ground coffee.
So buy Roast Beans and a grinder for the freshest strongest flavour.
French Coffee Percolators use the coarsest ground coffee.
Turkish coffee uses the finest ground coffee
Automatic coffee makers drip hot water onto coffe grounds held on a filter paper.

Cafetières work by steeping coffee in boiling water for a few minutes then pushing down a filter to hold down the coffee grounds.
Espresso cofee makers force very hot water strongly through ground coffee.
This produces a very strong coffee with a reddish brown foam (called a crema)
This is often diluted with very hot water to make a more dilute version called an Americano.

Cafe Latte is coffee with milk
Cappuchino is equal parts of espresso and foamed milk. This with a blob of hot foamed milk on top is caffè macchiato..