Urban folkcraft
We were talking the other day about the crappy coffee in the kitchens at work -- drunk by those too cheap to pay for a better-tasting caffeine hit in the cafeteria -- and the different strategies people have for making it taste halfway decent.
Several people put two coffee packets in the machine at once, to make it stronger. A couple of people maintained that drinking the coffee right away meant that you got more of the essential oils that would otherwise evaporate. And one person revealed his technique of using two coffee filters, not just one, so the grounds would spend more time in contact with the hot water, extracting more coffee goodness.
This all got me to thinking about urban folkcraft. As an anthropology student (which is how I started out my academic career), we spent a lot of time looking at rural folkcraft: pottery, handmade knives, little tools to make life on the farm or in the bush easier, etc. etc. But what about urban folkcraft, like the coffee? Or just general urban folk wisdom? Special ways to sit on the bus, or how you avoid crossing the street in certain ways?
Do you have any folkcraft or folk wisdom?
rfkj, on Sunday, May 29, 2005 at 8:05 PM:
Seems to me that you'd want to extract less flavor, not more. I don't drink the stuff myself, but logically, wouldn't you think that since coffee brewed longer is so bitter, you'd want to pass less water through more coffee so that you take the good part off the top and leave all the bitterness? The two coffee packets at once sounds like a better way to go than the two filters--always assuming that you can stand coffee in the first place, which I can't.
rfkj, on Monday, May 30, 2005 at 8:15 AM:
To address the question...how about "The best seat in a movie theater is about 2/3 of the way back, smack in the middle of the row." Although I prefer the back row, left side so I can stretch my leg out.