There are a few rituals that I follow and one of them is coffee every morning with Alan.  It may seem silly, but it’s the one thing I look forward to each morning.  Some mornings, Alan wakes me up with a fresh brew in bed while other days we walk over to the local coffee shop.  Alan and I love french pressed coffee and recently discovered pour over coffee.  We love the control over the brew, plus it takes so much better than coffee out of the machine.  Essentially, pour over coffee promotes a faster and more efficient brew which means a better tasting cup of coffee at home.  Of course, it all starts with good coffee that is fresh and hasn’t been sitting in the freezer for weeks.  All it takes is about 3 minutes and 4 simple steps.

1. Grind coffee beans to that of coarse sugar. Grind enough to fill the dripper about 1/2 to 2/3 full of coffee grounds.

2. Boil clean, filtered water in an electric kettle.  Most recommend a goose neck kettle, but I think any good one will work as long as you have a steady hand (more on this later).

3.  Pour water to soak all of the coffee in the dripper.  Wait for the coffee bed to stop the initial swelling before adding more water (about 30 seconds).

4.  Pour more water gently and evenly across the surface of the coffee.  When you stop adding water, your dripper will continue to drip for between 20 to 60 seconds.

The target and recommended brew time is about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes.

Starbucks Pour Over Brewer and Paper Cone Filter | Harlo Glass Server | Starbucks House Blend

This post was in collaboration with Starbucks Coffee.

Our weekday routine is usually pretty hectic with both of us grabbing fruit on our way out the door to work. On the weekends on the other hand, Alan and I look forward to making breakfast together and enjoying a cup of coffee and a good book book on the patio.  These lemon blueberry scones are delicious – they are perfectly crumbly with a buttery center.

Ingredients:

2 cups gluten-free flour (or all-purpose)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar, plus more for sprinkling

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut in chunks

1 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing the scones

zest of 1 lemon

1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Sift together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter to coat the pieces with the flour to achieve a crumbly mixture. Make a well in the center and pour heavy cream and then follow with the zest of the lemon and fold together.  Next, fold the blueberries into the batter in carefully. Don’t overwork the dough or mash the blueberries.  Using a tablespoon, spoon out the dough and place the scones on an engrossed cookie sheet.  Brush the tops with a little heavy cream and sprinkle of sugar.  Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown.