10 tips for Raising Grassfed Cattle in Argentina - #7- Coffee

When in Gaucholandia, I do as the gauchos do ...I drink mate. As delicious as mate is on a morning in the pampas, however, I sometimes feel a little under caffeinated. On those occasions, my thoughts turn to espresso.

But how to prepare off-the-grid espresso? I usually don´t bother.

I could fire-up my trusty stove-top espresso maker ...but getting it up to a full boil and the clean-up involved just seems like a lot of bother compared to just having some extra mate.

If only espresso could be as easy as mate!

Well, now it is. Courtesy of my friend Alan Crabtree, from Coffee Capital Seattle, our ranch house is now equipped with an Aerobie Aeropress ...a gizmo that puts beautifully brewed coffee into your cup with what has to be the most hassle-free method around.

On any ranch anywhere around the Río de la Plata, there is always hot water for mate in a thermos or in a kettle on the woodburning stove. As per mate tradition, the water is never allowed to reach a full boil ...so you´ve got the perfect temperature for brewing without unecessary bitterness with the Aeropress.

Just walk into the kitchen, throw a couple of scoops of good grind into the Areopress, grab the kettle, pour and stir, slap a filter on the machine, flip and press. You´re done!

If you´re not too terribly groggy, the whole process could take about 60 seconds.

Clean-up? Just unscrew the filter-holder, and push the "puck" of grounds out of the cylinder. The perfectly air-tight plunger squeegies everything clean leaving you with nothing more than to wipe or rinse any remaining grounds off the outside ...and you can easily reuse the filters!

Alan, you´re a genius! Thanks, man.