538: Morning Beverage Routine
Molly 0:00
Hi I'm Matthew and I'm Molly and this
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:05
is spilled milk the show where we cook something delicious. Eat it all and you can't have any
Molly 0:10
today we are talking about oh, this was a listener suggested episode.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:14
This was suggested by a listener Bryden fountain pen Fay, who once sent us not sent us but wrote us a letter with a fountain pen took a photo of that letter and emailed it.
Molly 0:25
I love this. Okay. Anyway, let's Bryden has asked us to talk about our morning beverage routine. Yes. And that's what today's episode is.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:34
I like this topic because as we mentioned recently, I have been wanting to do a green tea episode, but I know it's a bad idea because it would involve me droning on and on about green tea for an hour, like long beyond the point where everyone stopped listening. And this way I get to like confine it to just part of an episode.
Molly 0:53
This is great. And also, I think I have never wanted to do a coffee episode, which is my beverage of choice. I am not enough of a coffee geek to want to devote an entire episode to coffee, but I would love to talk about my relationship. Are there are there some people who are like really into coffee? Yeah, I feel like I've heard of those people. They do this thing called like cupping.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:14
Oh, that's when they put like, yeah, like suction cups on their backs. Yeah,
Molly 1:18
but the suction cups are filled with coffee. It is so invigorating. Yeah. Okay. Um, you know, before we get get started, we wanted to talk about a cool new podcast that pretty sure Abby is a part of yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:33
hope she doesn't leave us for this podcast. Yeah.
Molly 1:35
Well, she's not. I mean, she's a producer of it. She's not on the air.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:39
But I hope she has to leave producing us to produce only this podcast because it sounds pretty cool. It's called everything cookbooks. And it's a podcast for curious writers, readers and cooks.
Molly 1:48
And it's hosted by four veteran cookbook authors. I know you have heard of at least one of these authors before. Kristin Donnelly, Kate Leahy, friend of the show, Andrea Noonan and Molly Stephen
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:01
raising expert of the show, Molly Stevens. Yes. Everything
Molly 2:05
cookbooks provides behind the scenes information about what it takes to write, edit, and get a cookbook published.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:11
Yeah. If you've been thinking about if people have been always told you, you should write a cookbook. You can listen to this show and find out whether you really should or not.
Molly 2:18
I cannot think of anyone better to talk about this topic than these four women. Yes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:23
So I really excited to listen to this. It's called everything cookbooks get it wherever you get your podcasts. Alright, let's talk about our morning beverage Memory Lane first, then we can talk about our current morning beverage routine.
Molly 2:34
Okay. My memory lane is kind of long here. So I think we should I think we should like you know, tap back and forth.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:42
Okay, my mind is much shorter. I thought of like kind of one thing. Okay. Yeah.
Molly 2:46
Okay, well, um, if you listen to the herbal tea episode, you will know that I went through a period in college of drinking chamomile tea as my morning beverage of choice. Like, in retrospect, who does this?
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:58
It feels so like Berkeley though,
Molly 3:02
but it feels like I can't figure out you know, if we think of chamomile tea as being like the thing you drink before you go to sleep. I mean, I want to clarify that it's not like I had stayed up all night studying like I had just woken up from a good night's sleep. And then I drink my soporific tea or soporific tea or what Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:21
on the other hand, like, as I said, like, I haven't been to Berkeley, California in a while, but I love going there. Because every time I go, I see like just actual unreconstructed hippies. And it's so reassuring. Somehow, there's always there's always a naked guy on Telegraph, right, exactly. And so if like, I heard that, like the naked guy on Telegraph Avenue, drank chamomile tea in the morning, that wouldn't be surprising. But
Molly 3:43
Matthew, I just have to remind you that I went to like Cal Berkeley's rival Yeah. Okay. So the fact that you are linking my college beverage habits to my university's rival is extremely proper, but
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:58
it's not I'm not talking about UC Berkeley. I'm talking about like the East Bay in general. Okay, I
Molly 4:03
was in the South Bay. Let's
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:04
get okay fine. I don't know anything about California geography or beverages. Anyway, okay. I practically never been to California except for when I went to college for two and a half years.
Molly 4:15
So anyway, yeah, I was an absolutely wild college student drinking chamomile tea for bracket sounds
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:23
like it. What about you? So here's here's my thing. We've talked about this before that I am a lifelong ice water drinker. It's my favorite favorite beverage. And like
Molly 4:34
I every time you say this, it's like I've never heard it before. It just doesn't stick.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:38
So until like like the last dozen years or so. I never really had a morning beverage routine with the exception of when we when wife of the show Laurie and I moved to New York for her to go to grad school. We we would shop at the like the West Side supermarket or fairway and get Tropicana sometimes we get like the Indian Visual little Tropicana cards. But often you'll get the big Tropicana pulp free orange juice. And so I would drink that in the morning. Most days. I think when we were in New York, I have never really been a coffee drinker. So I've never had like a morning coffee routine. And because of that, like I would just drink water. I know. It's weird.
Molly 5:21
Is it weird? It's not weird, but it's so weird. Yeah, no. Well, so I think after I after I decided that I wanted to drink coffee in the morning. I started with decaf. Sure. Because again, I was like, I think it was just a holdover from those like the straight edge days. Yeah, I get it. I get it. Episode. Did I talk about those must have been the herbal tea. They must be the herbal tea. Anyway, so I started out with decaf coffee. And I remember I would brew it in the French press. Of course. I mean, like, this is the dumbest morning beverage. Yeah, this
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:57
is this is our new segment. Who does that? Who starts their day with iced water or decaf French press? So dumb. Anyway, why would you listen to those people talk to each other voluntarily.
Molly 6:09
I had an individual size French press that I remember my dad so my dad was always like an estate sale and garage sale man. I remember he got me like an individual size like Bodom French press at a garage sale and sent it to me at college and I made my my decaf French press in there.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:29
I feel like if I had a French Press Okay, so like two days ago as you're as you're listening to No, not as you're listening to this as we're recording this. And Eret swipe of my arm completely shattered and destroyed our electric kettle. And I feel like if I had a French press, it would it would be smashed into bits instantly.
Molly 6:47
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I thought your electric kettle was was plastic. No, it was tempered glass. Oh, like a coffee carafe? Like, like a percolator?
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:57
I'm so sorry. broke into a lot of pieces. But you know what? It's replaceable?
Molly 7:01
It's true. Thank goodness. I do always have this shiver of fear when I am pressing the plunger of a French press when it's a glass
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:11
pressing. It might be one of those bomb plungers Yeah,
Molly 7:16
exactly. Okay, so after after the decaf French press. Then I think I went through many years of not drinking hot beverages in the morning. This was all through grad school again. Would you drink cold beverages such as ice water? I've never really been an ice person. I don't know what I would drink in the mornings. I generally don't maybe or maybe were dehydrated for years. I think I was all through grad school. I mean, it's no wonder I wound up dropping out of grad school. You know, I was so dehydrated.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:47
Yeah, they should be they should be like, you know, testing students for dehydration.
Molly 7:52
They should. Anyway, um, I think and this seems so predictable now that I I sort of look back on it, but I think I started drinking coffee in earnest. Once I became apparent, right does not seem so like
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:07
when did you start drinking coffee with earnest?
Molly 8:11
Well, so when Okay, when I met Brandon, he was super into coffee and
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:15
super earnest. That's the first thing you bonded over.
Molly 8:23
Anyway, when I met Brandon, he was super into coffee and he went on
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:27
a date with somebody like what do you like the like I pretty much exclusively watch Ernest movie
Molly 8:38
I don't think I don't think anyone else in the world is even thought of oh, you
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:43
know, earnest in that's what would make it so great. Like, I'd be like, either they're they're like a murder or they're like, like, there's something sort of cool about that.
Molly 8:52
God, do you? Did you have any like, really memorable dates prior to meeting Laurie? Like, where things just went so weird?
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:00
No. Like, I have I have like, some embarrassing moments that I don't want to talk about that like the pop to mind. Like, why did I say that stupid thing. Like, could I take that back? I'm like, does everybody has that right? Like, like they remember like, you know five like incredibly stupid things that they've said that you ever take back? Oh, yeah. So So yeah, I have a couple of those. But no, no, like classic like bad date stories? I don't think
Molly 9:26
so when I was working at Whole Foods. In the summers when I was in college, I got a membership at a gym right by my aunt's house where I was living. And I would go to this gym and I think I used their treadmills or something and there was this super handsome like stereotypically gorgeous blonde man. And like I somehow struck up a conversation with him and he asked me on a date. Wow. And I have to say like, I was not the kind of person who this happened to sure we went out on a date. And this date went in, like the sequence of it in retrospect is so strange. Oh, Joe on here ever Okay, so the date began watching the sunset on Mount Tam. Okay, just north of San Francisco. And he had brought a bottle of champagne. And we
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:13
like so this this must have been like like in the winter or spring.
Molly 10:17
No, this was summer it was summer because otherwise I would have been like down at college.
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:22
Because like, but that's done the sunset pretty late in San Francisco in the summer. I don't know about you know,
Molly 10:27
you didn't actually make it to the sunset. Maybe we just watched the waning of the day.
Unknown Speaker 10:32
Oh, okay. And that was how he invited me. Yeah, you want to come watch the waiting? Yeah, the day. Anyway, he
Molly 10:38
brought some champagne. We were in his pickup truck. This was like, I mean, a really stereotypical date in the beginning. Like he picked me up in his car. And we drove it was a pickup truck. We drove up to Mount Tam and murdered me, right? Like that. Sorry, goes. Anyway, we watched the waning of the day while drinking some champagne. I mean,
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:59
this sounds pretty nice. Pretty great. Then we went out for Thai food and
Molly 11:03
then he pulled out a stack of photographs from a recent bicycling vacation going on. Oh, no. With his then girlfriend. Oh, no, and show them to me. This was the majority of our dinner. Why? Right? I mean, what makes someone think I'm going on a first date with this girl. So I'm going to bring photos from my recent bicycling vacation with my now ex girlfriend.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:29
So like, what are you know, I? To some extent, I feel like I do know, but like, what are the things that I do? Or that you that we do that like anybody if they weren't too polite would tell us like why are you doing that thing? Nobody likes it when you do that. I mean, I think our whole podcast I think but but you know, a lot of people listen to the podcast voluntarily and like if you don't have one to listen to, to it, you don't have to, although maybe we shouldn't mention that. Maybe. Maybe most of our listeners feel like they're under compulsion. Yeah. Yeah, no, I think, you know, at our age, we've outgrown all of those things. And like, everything we do is totally wanted.
Molly 12:05
Everybody loves us. We we have broken all our bad habits. We only say the right thing.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:11
Okay, so, so how was the second day?
Molly 12:17
Yeah, I like I still think though, I was young enough that I remember getting home from it and like still being somehow like, flattered, sadly enough, that I that like, I'd gotten to go on a date with this guy. Yeah. And yet, I also knew like, wow, that went so wrong. Like who does that? I do remember feeling really indignant that he absolutely. Never asked me a thing about my life. It was so sure. It was so clear. He just did not care. Well, but
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:48
I mean, he was way more interesting than you because he went on a bike vacation and had the photos to prove it.
Molly 12:53
I should add that the bike vacation was in Southern France. Oh,
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:57
yeah. Okay, like, I mean, what do you what would you possibly have to have to add to the conversation with I know,
Molly 13:03
it's just as well that he didn't ask me? Yeah. Okay. Anyway, but ah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:08
a morning beverages. Beverages, right. Okay. Well,
Molly 13:11
so when I met Brandon, we'll do a separate
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:13
episode on which beverages we like to drink while while the day is waning. during the waning of the day,
Molly 13:19
so raining of the day, you kind of get got to get the phrase, right. To make a long story short, Brandon was into coffee in a way that like coffee, people are into coffee, like he was cupping with cups of coffee. Yeah, when we met. And so I think that was what started me into thinking about coffee is something I would drink often. Then Brandon became extremely sensitive to caffeine and now can't even drink decaf coffee.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:46
Wow. Yeah, no, that sort of happened to me. Like I started like drinking some coffee in college and like quickly was like, No, this just makes me jumpy and poop a lot. So I think I'm gonna just go back to water. Yes, that was good for me.
Molly 14:00
Anyway, I think I started drinking coffee every day when Jun was little. Yeah, I remember. So Brandon bought me an espresso machine that he found somewhere. Brandon was very much like my dad and his ability to find gems among other people's junk. And anyway, he bought me a really great little espresso machine right before June was born. And I remember making myself like americanos on that thing with June strapped to my chest. Oh, she could sleep through the sound of it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:31
This is good like I am thinking of like other sort of like mini morning beverage routines as as you're going down memory lane because like when we when we have been in Japan like when I'm in Japan like I don't usually make tea at home. Like when when we're in Japan. I will usually get coffee at Lawson That Lawson's mochi Cafe cuz it's just, it just feels right. So tasty.
Molly 14:52
I remember being there with you like five years ago and going down going out to Lawson I think you were I don't know what you were doing. Maybe something on the computer. And I went out to Lawson by myself and got us coffee. Yeah we drink coffee together every morning in Japan
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:05
yeah I don't know like it still sometimes makes me jumpy but it just it just it's a nice routine
Molly 15:11
Yeah, yeah, it can I share so the espresso machine that Brandon bought me which I still have in my closet even though I haven't used it in years. It was a brand called pesky me whoops I misspelled it on the agenda here
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:23
pesky now this this photo you included is so fancy.
Molly 15:26
This is what is printed on the side of the machine.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:30
Matthew, this is amazing. I think I've seen this before maybe at your house possibly it might have you told me about it before
Molly 15:37
for music. Puccini for art bear Nee nee. For espresso pesky knee and this is what is printed on the side of the pesky espresso machine.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:50
That's right like you know you should you should like for for your spouse's benefit one day, I guess this isn't sitting on your counter but cover up the Puccini with a sticker that says Bieber yeah just see if they know I know
Molly 16:03
that would be really fun paper that would be fun Ashley starts
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:07
was is the is the like visual art equivalent of Bieber Yeah,
Molly 16:11
I'm not sure yeah, I'm
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:12
not sure either. I don't mean this is like is like picking on Beaver like just a different different kind of stratum than Puccini, I guess I
Molly 16:20
think so. Ash likes to dis your spouse ever like leave you like sneaky little things like the equivalent of an Easter egg like somewhere around the house
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:28
and I was like a Reese's peanut butter egg
Molly 16:31
we have a whiteboard next to the fridge where we write like our grocery list as we need it and ash will often without by noticing right poopies on it just go to look at the grocery list and notice that Ash is added up
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:47
this is like I usually I'm very serious about what I put on the grocery list because I know if I make a joke I won't remember what I meant later. But like anytime we need buttermilk I will always write but milk of course, if I tell you about the the anniversary gifts that wife the show, Lori and I recently gave each other Oh please, because it was recently our 26th wedding anniversary, which is you know how the first one is paper and like what do you think 26 is?
Molly 17:12
Well 25 is probably bronze or something rock God it should really be silver. I mean, people make it past there. No, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:21
think you're I think you're right. So
Molly 17:22
I think that it okay if 25 Let's say 25 is silver and listeners I don't want to hear from you. If we're wrong. Let's say 25 is silver. So let's say 26 is like silver that's recently been polished.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:36
Okay, or silver that's tarnished. Okay, well, she gave me a box of Wendy's frosty cereal. Okay, which which is uh, I mean, I mean that the thought like, you know, I love Frosties and and she was right that I thought this was a great gift and also it's a really not very good cereal because it's like cocoa puffs with a bunch of little marshmallows that all fall to the bottom of the gave her two Reese's peanut butter eggs.
Molly 18:03
Wow, that's true love. That's really sweet. Okay, well anyway, so maybe you should get into our current Okay, our current thing I mean, you know there's our current fish really nothing else
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:18
No, I figured this would be like a cute little episode Yeah
Molly 18:30
Hey, so Matthew, what do you do now? What's your morning beverage routine?
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:34
Okay, so here's the part this parts gonna last 45 minutes okay. All right. So I am a Japanese green tea drinker and I got started I first sort of like learned about the existence of Japanese green tea that it was something I liked at the dearly departed remedy teas Cafe on Capitol Hill Russian piece remedy we opened like when when teenager the show December was was a baby so and and was open for like 11 years so so probably opened like 2004 they it's the kind of the kind of place where they had 150 teas and like a lot of them were you know flavored blends and stuff but but they also had a lot of of like unflavored you know, oolong teas, black teas, white teas, green teas. And I like tried a few different ones. I was already someone who liked you know, drinking black tea sometimes like a PG Tips. And I eventually settled on the Japanese green tea Sencha and I was like, I like this stuff. I'm gonna make this my regular tea.
Molly 19:30
So this is where you you got into Sencha Yeah. Oh, I assumed that it was in Japan.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:35
Yeah, you would think so. But no, okay. It was three blocks from my house.
Molly 19:40
Okay. And so did you just sort of methodically work your way through tasting different varieties of green tea?
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:47
I didn't even know that I liked green tea, honestly. So like I just I knew that I wasn't very interested in flavored tea and like you're gonna have 150 teas. Most of them are flavored teas. So so I was able to like rule out most Have the menu but like I tried, you know a few different black teas I like I like, like the Lapsang Souchong like smoky tea and we get that I got that a couple times. But then like I just found like, you know, the the Sencha the Japanese green tea was just the one that I wanted, like, never got tired of and like would you know drink the whole pot and ask them to receive it and drink another whole pot while I was like writing one of my one of my books or something?
Molly 20:24
Will you talk a little bit about what Sencha is? Oh, would I?
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:27
Okay, so And now and now I make it at home and I will get into the routine but but like green tea is is tea that hasn't been oxidized. So black tea is black because like the leaves are kind of crushed and left to oxidize.
Molly 20:40
Kind of like when when basil turns black. Yeah, like that. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:43
yeah. But like this is a this is like in a good way. Okay. And green tea, like something is done to like arrest that process very early on. And so the way it's typically done in China is you take the leaves and you like sort of like cook them in a big pot dry pot. And so that gives the the tea kind of a roasted, like very lightly smoky flavor. That is characteristic of like good quality Chinese green tea, although Chinese green tea is like an entire world. Yeah, so that's that's a vast oversimplification. The vast majority of green tea in Japan, though, is steamed to stop the oxidation process. Interesting. And so that what that does is it emphasizes it first of all, very green color, and very vegetal flavors. So like the of like all of the popular teas of the world, the Japanese green tea is the one that tastes most like what you imagine like a green leaf when I
Molly 21:40
think of Sencha as tasting a bit like spinach.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:43
Yep, that's totally true. And there are different styles of sencha. Also, of course, I like the one that's more steamed, which is called Fukushi, sencha. I ordered from Japan, I will give a link to the place that I ordered from which is oh Cha calm. And I like that kind of just there like basic, deep steamed green tea blend from Kagoshima in the south of Japan. I totally recommend ordering from this company. But they have found like since the pandemic that the only shipping method that reliably gets packages to the US is FedEx. And so the minimum shipping charge is going to be $30 Oh, wow. But it'll get there fast.
Molly 22:16
So question for you. Do you feel like the tea that you had at remedy teas was like a high quality? sentia like in retrospect, do you think your introduction was like, you know, it was well brewed? It was Yeah, cuz
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:28
I've had some really low quality Sencha that and that I've just not interested in because it just doesn't taste like much. And
Molly 22:36
is it kind of fatally like, do you have to be careful brewing this stuff? Oh, you are nodding and smiling.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:41
Okay, so let me take you through my morning beverages.
Molly 22:44
Sounds very relaxing. Wait,
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:46
I mean, it is because like, I've like, you know, got it down to like, just the level of nerdiness that I want. Okay. And you don't have to brew it this nerdily but I like to and that's why I do it. Like the routine is a big part of why I enjoy it. So I take one teaspoon of tea leaves and put it into my little ceramic tea pot.
Molly 23:06
Do you use a like a measuring spoon? Or do you use like a table like a teaspoon you'd put on a table.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:13
I use a measuring spoon. Okay, one one teaspoon. I ordered this teapot from Japan Of course. Okay, and then I heat some water to about 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Okay, and I have a water pot, you know, electric kettle that with different temperature buttons, or at least I did until I just tried it with my gorilla arm. Oh, no. And I don't know my own strength like I have these huge like Schwarzenegger style muscles. I don't know what to do with them. It's really
Molly 23:43
good that our listeners can't see you because then they just get to think you're like lovable little Matthew. When in
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:49
the beast. Yeah, like I'm like, you know that you know that guy? Dwayne Johnson. Yeah. Who used to go by by a nickname like that people people often say that they think that guys my little brother. Oh. So okay, so then I put a teaspoon of tea leaves into the into the tea pot. I heat this water up to about 180 I take my little ceramic tea cup, which I ordered from Japan. Okay, go on, go on. I put it onto a digital scale. And I pour 70 grams 70 milliliters of hot water into the cup to warm up the cup a little and get the get the water down to tea brewing temperature. Okay, I pour the cup into the tea pot. Got it? I put the lid on the tea pot and I brew that for 44 seconds. 44 What happens if you go to 45? Everything everything explodes. I do 44 seconds because when I set a timer I like to like do press the fewest number of buttons possible. I know this makes you sound like even more of a fun person but like I'm really fun. No, this is how I feel about to be in a band.
Molly 24:48
No, I have these thoughts about the microwave. I really need to I have to set the microwave for multiples of five like a time that's a multiple of five. I don't want to set it For something like 44 seconds, I need it to be a multiple of five.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:03
Our microwave has like shortcut buttons, like if you push just the start button, that's 30 seconds and then you can push like one through five, just to do like one minute, two minutes. And I'll bet you like almost never use the time set anymore because of that
Molly 25:17
ours if you press start it does one minute and that's what I do primarily, but I like it not only because I only press one button, but also because it's it's such a clean number. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:28
yeah, I know what you mean. Okay, so then after 44 seconds I pour from the from the tea pot it back into the cup, the tea is brewed, and I give the give it a little shake to get those last few drops out. Okay, and wait, hold on. Is there a strainer somewhere? The strainer is in the pot. So I bought a pot that is made for brewing deep steamed Japanese green tea says a very fine mesh strainer. Okay, some people like more like leaf fragments in their cup. I don't. Okay, and then I drink the tea and then I really steep it the second steep I do 22 seconds. And then the third steep I go back to 44 seconds all with the same temperature water. Do you ever forget which steep you're on? I'm usually not because I leave the timer and it shows the previous time I used if not for that I would totally forget. And do you always like have three cups? Always have three cups? Yeah, unless I'm like dashing to get somewhere. And the second steep is my favorite. That's like the thickest, greenest juiciest one.
Molly 26:24
And so here's a question. So how many ounces Do you think this little cup is?
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:28
Oh, that's a good question. Let me grab the copy. Okay, tell me what you think. Okay. Ah, okay, so maybe, maybe like three ounces for ounces, I'm gonna guess like four ounces, four to five. And so and so like, the amount of tea I brew fills this cup, like half full. So I sometimes think to myself, like, you know, people, people like pre, you know, premium beverages. And like, you know, there's lots of different premium beverage chains that people get into. And like, Could you do like a Japanese green tea and matcha premium beverage chain? And I think the problem is, like, the best way to make these things when they're really good is in very small quantities. Yeah. And like people don't want to carry to like, buy and then and then like walk around with like a two ounce serving of their beverage. Yes. Yeah. So yeah. So much for that business idea.
Molly 27:16
Wow, this is i I thoroughly enjoyed that. That walk through your morning beverage routine.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:23
Yeah. And like, is that way more complicated than it has to be? Yes, it is. That's kind of the point. Like, you know, that's like a thing, the thing that I do in the morning that lets me know that my day is getting started.
Molly 27:34
This is delightful. And do you as I think this is this is an important thing? Do you go through this routine before or after you do your like morning ablutions, getting dressed etc.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:48
I'm really glad you asked because it's very interesting. I have been fighting recently, like, normally like up until recently before okay, but lately I've been finding that like if I don't if I don't shower, first thing Oh, yeah, I kind of just the day like it's hard to get the day started. Okay. And so I've been trying to like get out of bed and like, kind of stumble into the shower. Okay. And like, I don't want to do that. But it does seem like the morning goes better when I do. And then I'll get my tea going. As soon as I get dressed. I get that. Yeah, I get that. And oh, and like, by the way like that. I love the flavor and texture of this tea. Like I drink it because it's super delicious. But I also like the the kind of dumber little ritual I've built around it. And how
Molly 28:35
much caffeine does does a green tea like this have compared to like, drip coffee or something?
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:41
That's a good question. Obviously.
Molly 28:42
I think much less. Yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:44
think I think less, although I brew it pretty strong. And so I think I think probably what I ended up getting is like half a cup of coffees worth of caffeine. Yeah, that would be great. That's perfect. Seems seems about right to me. I can't really handle a whole cup of coffee. Yeah.
Molly 29:01
Well, my routine is similarly precise. Okay, I like but it's over Faster.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:10
Faster and 44 seconds. Well, you
Molly 29:13
have you know, your your three cups, right? So, okay, I tend to make pour over coffee. And I usually use like a one serving pour over dripper you have like a little Horio I think it's like the V 60 or something like that. dripper I also have a Chemex although, I mean talk about fear of breakage I have broken I think I've broken at least two Cemex is over the years. The one I have now is my mother's Chemex and I'm sure to break
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:41
a no like your history before lending it to you.
Molly 29:44
I had broken my Chemex and yes, I said Mom, are you using your Chemex because she usually only brews a cup at a time too. And so she was not using the Chemex
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:55
Yeah, and I guess like when I think about it, like one of the main points of having kids is to be able to foist off stuff You're not using anymore.
Molly 30:01
That's true. I use the Chemex if we have other people around or if I for some reason think I'm think today's going to be a two cup kind of day. But most of the time I brew a single cup. I have a rent Sileo Rocky, it's a friend of a Brandon and model of grinder.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:22
It's it's also like, by it's been my nickname ever since I got these big muscles people call me rancilio Rocky.
Molly 30:29
Anyway, it is a burr grinder every year so I take it apart just so I can have a terrible day together. Anyway, it's a burger, I grind my coffee to a certain to a certain weight. I usually grind 30 grams for one serving. I love this. Okay, so basically I get my mug, I put it on my heart to scale. And it's like a jeweler scale. It's like very
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:56
pro. You brought it to our last retreat. Yes, admiring it.
Molly 30:59
Yes. So I put my cup on that I put my my dripper with a paper filter in it. I pour some hot water from the kettle through the filter, get all that paper flavor out, warms the cup a little bit. I dumped out the water, put the filter filled dripper back on top of my mug, add my 30 grams of ground coffee. And I like a medium roasted coffee. Okay. Although, you know, I won't complain if it's dark. But I don't like the really light like blonde coffees that sure that have been trendy recently. And then I start the clock on my timer. And I add about twice the weight of the ground. So about 60 grams of water, I let that bloom for like 45 seconds. And then I slowly add the rest of the water up to a total of 240 grams. Okay. And, and then I've got my single cup of coffee. And as you can imagine, like 240 grams is not a tremendous amount. It's
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:06
like It's like one cut like eight ounces. Yes.
Molly 32:09
Yeah, it is. But almost no coffee mugs are that small, right? I mean, so you can see actually, this is this a mug that you would use this is a mug I use often you can see that my coffee only comes like two thirds of the way I
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:24
just bring this mug over. Like because we're doing this topic and you wanted to show me you
Molly 32:28
know I brought it over because I wasn't done with my coffee and I left the house. But you know what I realized as I got out of the car with this mug, which is extremely stained from my coffee, that I wish I had like a couple months ago I did a whole bunch of research on how to remove the stain that that do you want to remove? Oh, I do. I guess this is gnarly. Like this is really good. I think it's like patina. Oh, this is a really nice like handmade ceramic mug and it is so stained on the inside. Apparently there are lots of different ways to remove it. I haven't tried any of them. But yeah, all my good coffee mugs are stained and I need to spend some time cleaning them.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:08
I don't mind a stain in a coffee mug. Oh, I do. I just it just looks like like evidence of love to me. No, this looks like I don't know how to keep my black like sheet stain is evidence of love. Exactly. What do you do while drinking your coffee? Oh,
Molly 33:25
okay, so I always have breakfast I almost always have breakfast before getting dressed. I will put on my bathrobe and then go make my coffee at the very least. And then get dressed sometimes I'll often also have like my bowl of cereal or whatever before I get dressed with cereal for example. You know I every now and then will decide I'm going to be the kind of person who puts good things into their brain first thing in the morning and I'll make myself like read a book while I drink my coffee. But that never lie. That never last very long. I usually sit there staring at my phone like like a citizen of the 21st century. Or I take it with me into the bathroom while I get dressed. But I can't drink it when it is like first brewed I can't drink it that hot. I'm pouring 205 degree water over the grounds. Sure. So even after it's brewed for a couple minutes, or you know even after it's taken a couple minutes to get through the dripper it's still really hot.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:22
Yeah, that's that's the thing about green tea is you can drink it pretty much right away.
Molly 34:26
Yeah, as we've discussed many times I have a very tender tone. Yeah. So thank you for that really? Yeah. Oh, anyway, I loved my coffee so much. And I feel like going through this ritual is not an imposition to me. It feels easy. I know how to do it. I mean same as you. It is never occurred to me to have like a like a push button coffee maker or to like set a timer on it. I think Maybe in part because I only drink one cup. And so it it doesn't feel like a big deal to just go through these steps.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:06
I do. I do have like a really like nostalgic memory of the sound of like the drip coffeemaker that my dad we use when I was a kid like that, that Verbling Yeah,
Molly 35:16
it's absolutely terrible. However, you know, what is one of the nicest things that can happen to a person. Okay, well, so when I go whenever I'm
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:24
traveling, I get asked by out by a hot guy at the gym.
Molly 35:28
Whenever I travel with my mom, you know, in recent years, we've like stayed in an Airbnb or whatever. I feel like it's been ages since I've stayed in a hotel, even before the pandemic.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:38
Yeah. No, yeah.
Molly 35:42
Anyway, my mom always brings a like a bag of ground coffee and her AeroPress Yeah, there is something truly magical about having my mother make me a cup of AeroPress coffee and she is not nearly as like, precise about her coffee making as I am. And you know, the beans aren't freshly ground or whatever. But oh my gosh, when my mother hands me a cup of strong coffee. That is a delight. Oh, and I always drink my coffee black.
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:12
Yeah, you know how like, we know some chefs and like how, like chefs will always tell you, like, you know, when like someone makes any home cooked meal, like there will never never in a million years stop and say like, this isn't as good as what I could make at my restaurant. The fear of anyone who's cooking for a chef, this is this is how I feel like whenever anyone like cooks or make something for me, you know, just like, I'm so glad someone did something for me.
Molly 36:37
Yes. You know, we should just like swap swap morning beverage routines, but like, you know, like in the sense that I'll come over and make yours for you. You come over and make my
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:48
I mean your your routine sounds I would love to like go through the steps that you described. It sounds really satisfying. It's
Molly 36:54
very much truly the same as yours. Yeah, it
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:57
is. Yeah, I did not expect that. And and that's why we're BFFs Yeah. Should we move on to segments? Yeah. All right. I've got a new segment for you. It's called what's new in Spira?
Molly 37:13
I was wondering how to pronounce that.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:15
Yeah, I think that's correct.
Molly 37:17
What what is Spira?
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:18
Okay, so it's been too long since we've had a video game segment and we used to have a segment called Animal Crossing that was about what was going on on your on your island or June's Island. And now I have an island or at least, like a was on an island because I've been playing playing the game game Final Fantasy 10 Okay, on the switch, which if spoiler alert if you haven't played this game from 1999 yet, like fast forward, but I want to tell you a little bit about what's going on in the in the land of Spira, which is where this story takes place. Okay, I am finding that it's a very immersive game and as soon as I stopped playing I pretty much forget everything that happened. But I think our podcast exactly so it's just like that but like I recommend this game because it is like very immersive and escapist and like guy you know, while you're playing Final Fantasy 10 You probably won't be thinking about like other things going on in the world.
Molly 38:10
What what kinds of things do you do in in spear us so
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:14
So you walk around and you meet people and you fight random monsters is pretty much it and like, at one point, I went into a wet like, ran into a temple and like, moved some spheres around and rescued. So now I've got this. I've got this like adventuring party. And we're about we're about to head off from this tropical island on a boat together to do something that I don't remember. Okay, but it's me niku waka and Yuna. Okay, and we all have our different you know, some of us are better at magic. Some of us are better wielding a sword. I'm Titus and I am a former some kind of some kind of underwater ball game sort of, like, like super soccer, kickball type of game, but I can't play anymore because my home city was destroyed in a terrorist attack from that, I think was maybe my mean dad was behind. Oh, no. And so like, I'm gonna have to confront that guy at some point for sure. Oh, no. But for now, we're heading out on a boat together. And I think we're probably gonna fight some more monsters.
Molly 39:19
That sounds awesome.
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:20
So I'll that's probably maybe the only time we'll ever do this segment. But if something interesting happens, we'll do
Molly 39:25
it. Hey, did we ever have a knitting segment? I know we had like calling,
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:30
calling quilts. Do we need a knitting segment?
Molly 39:32
No, just I just wanted to say one thing about knitting. So I just finished my second ever sweater. Okay. And Matthew? Well, on the day that we're recording this we're going to be doing an event at Town Hall in Seattle with Kenji Lopez all Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:47
what's your if you're listening to this happened, like two months
Molly 39:49
ago? Yeah, I'm so sorry. But anyway, I'm gonna be wearing the sweater that I knit. Oh, I'm excited. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:55
he sure and somehow work that into a question for Kenji. Oh, great. Okay. Yeah. What do you think of this?
Molly 40:00
Yeah, okay. Okay. All right. Do we have any spilled mail we do
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:11
it's from listener Ken albala, who writes, I love it when I'm walking to work listening to spilled milk and there's a shout out. So your question is a great one. What was the question? Exactly? It was something about like servies servies. Allah loose versus French service plate.
Molly 40:27
What on earth would does that mean? Well, okay, so I like table side table side like,
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:34
what? What would we have been talking about Caesar salad Caesar salad. Yes. All right. Okay, here we go. Oh, that's good. Because our spilled mail on our next episode is also going to be Caesar salad related, but in a totally different way. Okay, so, there's a story often repeated though, I've never seen direct evidence that it's true that when so called CLV salah, who's was introduced to Paris by the ambassador from Russia, one Alexander Korok in between 1804 and 1812. Rather than put all the food at once on the table as NCFE saw the phone says the food would be brought out and carved or heated and served from a stationary little table or one on wheels that could be rolled around a restaurant. It was sort of like earlier French carving at the table and earlier Italian Italian carving by a scout go there's a whole 17th century literature on carving. I can't figure out what from context what a scout
Molly 41:18
go. I'm loving all of this. Yeah, okay, no,
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:22
just let yourself kind
Molly 41:24
of I'm gonna I'm being taken away. Thank you, Ken.
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:26
But what was in private banquet in the early 19th century the logic was that when restaurants began to proliferate they couldn't afford to put a whole roast on a table and leave it to get cold that seems reasonable or move it to serve another table. So the roast rolled around was portion for each table as ordered. This was so so the implication was that maybe before that, like you would roast would be on your table you would like carved sub off and then a waiter which image improve that rose to another table and set it there? Maybe? Yeah, okay. So the roast rolled around was portion for each table as ordered. This was a very unusual thing in American restaurants. And in fact, there is selfie salad Mellie Ken to which just means food is plated in the back and brought to each diner. But restaurants in mid 20th century America tried trying to imitate the French thing crept Suzette flum bait or indeed the Caesar salad or steak tartare, much less often a carved joint, introduced it as a way to be fancy. A few years ago, there was a minor revival, but COVID put a quick end to that I really missed the dessert cart, so you could see exactly what you'd be getting the dessert cart. Yes. Or the cheese card, the
Molly 42:27
cheese cart, the cheese cart. Thank you, Ken albala up for sharing this information with us. Not only because it was delightful to learn about this, but also because it just made me for a moment. have that feeling that you have in kind of a fancy restaurant where you are being taken care of. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? is coming around with the bread and putting it on your plate for you, although I never really like that. But yeah, where there's going to be a cheese cart.
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:56
You don't like it when someone puts bread on your plate.
Molly 42:58
I don't really want somebody to come I just want them to put bread in the middle of the table so I can take what I want. That's fair. I don't especially
Matthew Amster-Burton 43:05
want that with a roast. Yes.
Molly 43:08
Anyway, thank you Ken. All right, that was delightful. Matthew, do you have a now but wow, this week I do
Matthew Amster-Burton 43:22
as I mentioned, I've I've really been in the mood for just like reassuring calm, escapist entertainment recently. I have been enjoying a YouTube channel that I've subscribed to for a while now called Japanese noodles. Udaan soba Osaka nada. Okay, and what it does is I don't know who the person behind it is. But they do they go to a restaurant serving noodles or Okonomiyaki or something something like very like everyday food in western Japan. And they go into the kitchen, there's no talking, they just show the people preparing the specialties of the house and with incredible detail so like the video will often be like 30 or 40 minutes long and you'll see them make a bunch of different dishes you'll see them making the Udaan noodles from scratch often there's often a lot of scenes with with a lot of flowing beaten eggs for like they can't egg sauce for a concert on or something and just like the food is beautiful and like obviously delicious. You know that the sounds are very of the of the kitchen are very, very reassuring. And there's just like, a whole like, like a warmth and curiosity to the whole thing like it would be it would be very hard to to dislike or be disturbed by anything you see in these wonderfully I don't know I've used all my adjectives. Ah, it's just it's just a great, great like, beautiful place to spend your time. It does make me wish I could be there eating the food obviously. So there is sort of sort of a ping, but we all we all get pangs. Well get pigs and well We'll link to it in the show notes. Ah, that sounds wonderful. One other thing while I'm thinking of it, this doesn't constituted now but well because I'm plugging my own thing but my band constellation lakes has a new single called Letter to the West Coast. I wrote it and I am singing it along with my my collaborator, Lauren hewn. I'm very proud of how this song came out. And I'm just going to ask a producer Abby to stick it at the end of the episode because it's like, two minutes and 20 seconds law gracious. It's just a pretty little post apocalyptic folk song that I wrote.
Molly 45:26
Okay. All right. Our producer is Abby circuit tele, please rate and review us wherever you get your podcast. And you can chat with other listeners on Reddit at reddit.com/are/everything spilled milk.
Matthew Amster-Burton 45:38
And until next time, thank you for listening to spilled milk. I'm servies Allah mahikeng
Molly 45:45
And I'm selfies. I love Paul says,
Matthew Amster-Burton 45:49
oh, and way down. We also say our names I didn't like I didn't think of think through this. I mean, I'm Molly. Oh, and I'm Matthew Amster-Burton. Okay,