The origin of Cleveland's Arabica...

...was a Neapolitan coffee maker that an old friend, John Campion, gave to Carl Jones, my husband, circa 1976. It was the taste of coffee from that pot that gave Carl the inspiration to start Arabica.

This morning I made myself a pot of coffee using the very same coffee pot. It was a slightly messy, spurty process, but intriguing because making coffee with a Neapolitan requires patience and a good sense of smell. Not many other brewing methods require the use of one's nose as a "timer".

The Neapolitan, as Phoenix's Espresso Evangelist, Steve Goldberg, has discovered, is a finicky brewing method, involving two chambers, one with a pouring spout for after the coffee is finished. The first chamber is where the water boils and in so doing "steams" the coffee grounds before brewing. This is where your sense of smell comes in. The coffee brewer should be removed from the burner when it begins to smell like coffee. The aroma actually reminds me of the steam that is emitted when coffee is roasting, not brewing. So the steam pre-brews the coffee. Then the apparatus is inverted, allowing the hot water to fall through the grounds, contained in a metal cage, and into the bottom chamber.

The resulting brew was too bitter to drink without some steamed half and half. But, combined with the half and half, it was heavenly. Better than a latte, and it gave me a good buzz too. I think one of the reasons it tasted so good is because of the delayed gratification. Anything that we have to wait 10 minutes for just has to be better, simply due to the additional anticipation and excitement.