Not so Instant Coffee

In Bol, we were spoiled by access to a French press coffee maker. We
bought some coffee and made ourselves our own cafe culture on our
pretty patio there. We were not given the same luxury for our single
nights in either Hvar or Korcula, but with three nights planned in
Dubrovnik, buying coffee would get expensive quickly. I became a man
with a mission.

I am not sure that JP fully understood how dedicated I became until
our second day. We had been browsing stores looking for a French
press, but on our second day in Dubrovnik, the thunderstorms started,
and coffee sounded really good (I am usually not a coffee drinker, a
fact you soon won't believe).

I began my march through the torrential rain into just about every
shop in and around the old city (where we are staying)-the store
owners were glad to have me dripping wet in their stores. I finally
got to someone who could respond in English (thanks to some studying
of Croatian, and the "lingo" device I got from the Torrano's, I could
ask in Croatian, but I couldn't understand the answer) (most of this
town speaks basic English, unlike the rest of croatia, but not complex
stuff). They told me to get on a bus and head to the closest
supermarket. I got to the bus terminal, and figured that Jess would be
pretty mad if I took a bus an hour away as she waited for this coffee.
I had to get crafty. I went to the nearby store and got paper towels.
I put the coffee in the paper towels and made a contraption to hold
the paper towel/coffee mixture above an empty cup. I poured boiling
water through the contraption, and got coffee on the other side. I
thought about just boiling the coffee with the grinds, but according
to the discovery channel, this is the worst tasting coffee possible.

In the end, it worked great! JP even called it the best coffee of the
trip. But I learned a very valuable lesson: just buy instant coffee
next time!