WAKE UP to the NEW YEAR with Lemony Coffee

Refreshing coffee in the cold gray and photos of cold past.

Jan 06, 2024

READ: DRY, GRAY JANUARY

It’s the first week of January and to every “How is your New Year going?” I’ve responded “…sloooow” because that is how the gray-ish is in my corner of the world (my corner = NYC after a drive back from upstate NY). In January the volume turns down on everything for a week or two. I am observing Dry January and a meal plan with minimal sugars and complex carbohydrates plus steamy, sweaty, hot yoga a few times a week, all this to GET BACK ON THE STICK.

January also feels ruminative and for now the best way I know to engage it (I was gonna say ATTACK IT, but have you noticed how much we use war language when we talk of organizing our lives? Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but it’s interesting to notice how often we ATTACK, DIVIDE AND CONQUER, AND EXECUTE our lives…if we’re gonna do that let’s have fun with it and say things like I’M COMMITTING WAR CRIMES AT TRADER JOE’S THIS AFTERNOON THEN DRONE STRIKING THE DRY CLEANING to really drive the point home and even make ourselves think…maybe? maybe not, who knows, back to January) is to shake the ruminative bouts with easy tasks like throwing out old socks, finally taking a broken camera to be fixed and finding out it’s now a shelf decoration, and giving away a ring-light-iPhone-holder I never used (I never did make food and drink vertical videos, oh well). Clearing off the to do list gives some sense of lightness and progress.

Still it’s hard to shake the ruminating and anxiety and for that I say bring it on and engage it (or NAPALM IT). Speaking of never making food vertical videos + ruminating on what is life (especially if you work in media or long term projects), this post by Alison Roman was a great read (and for a great listen check out Alison Roman on my podcast where we talk about Sex and The City). Sometimes you gotta push through and get back on the stick - dry, sugar free, and carbless - and after some gray (and hopefully) snow, we will be able to ATTACK the Spring. First we must engage the Winter.

EAT/DRINK: SHAKEN, LEMONY ESPRESSO

I’m a big fan of Sam Sifton and his ‘No Recipe Recipes’, and today I’m taking a page out of Sam’s book (not literally) and doing the same! This is NOT a recipe but a suggestion for bright, zippy coffee in your life, maybe you already do it. It is simple: add lemon essence to your coffee, specifically espresso, more specifically (in my case) Moka Pot. AND take your hot espresso and easily make it into a cold shaken espresso. It’s very simple and great.

Before we get into it - why would you want to do this? Because it adds a bright, pleasant, citrusy taste, and when done using the shaken frozen method (below) it is equal parts refreshing and invigorating. It cuts some of the bitterness of the espresso and, while still being a strong brew, the citrus adds lightness with less bitter aftertaste. With the frozen, shaken trick, it feels almost not bitter at all.

First, the lemon: Peel some lemon like you would for a cocktail, or grate some lemon peel, being careful not to get a lot of white pith (pith will make it more bitter). Prep your Moka Pot or espresso machine as normal, then add some fine shavings (or small pieces) of the lemon peel into your grounds, being careful to distribute it evenly so you don’t block the flow of the water that will come through. If using a Moka Pot, I also place some lemon in the top chamber of the pot, so you get the essential oils of the lemon once the coffee is brewed.

Then brew as normal and BAM! all of a sudden you and your sister live in a lemonworld, do do do do do. (Very specific reference there.) However here is the next step to take this thing to the top: make it shaken and frozen. I learned this one neat trick from an Instagram video and have used it often. Basically, brew espresso, freeze it in a bottle on its side, brew more espresso later, combine, shake, enjoy. Here’s the video:

mrks

A post shared by @mrks

Combine the the frozen trick, with the lemon, and voila, your new delightful morning/afternoon/whenever pick me up. You could even try with an orange, it may mix well with the chocolate flavors in the coffee. Go nuts!

Coffee, lemon, and a real lemon tree (inside for the winter)

SEE: WELCOME WINTER

I’m keeping it simple this week and since it is currently flurrying outside, here’s a few images that evoke the cold from over the past years. Stay warm out there inside and out! Embrace the cold and warm it up where you can.