Tastebud Chicago

Coffee and brass knuckles.

You’d think a hard-boiled guy like Philip Marlowe would drink his coffee as is, that he’d not fuss over the intricacies of getting a good brew, that he’d just put a slug of rye in it and drink.

Nope.

It turns out, Philip Marlowe, the character that made Humphrey Bogart…Humphrey Bogart, is sort of a coffee dandy. In the following excerpt from The Long Goodbye, we get a detailed peek into Marlowe’s coffee making process, as well as how a real coffee connoisseur would have made coffee at home for himself and a gun wielding alcoholic house guest in 1953:

I turned the hot water on and got the coffee-maker down off the shelf. I wet the rod and measured the stuff into the top and b that time the water was steaming. I filled the lower half of the dingus and set it on the flame. I set the upper part on top and gave it a twist so it would bind. The coffee maker was almost ready to bubble. I turned the flame low and watched the water rise. It hung a little at the bottom of the glass tube. I turned the flame up just enough to get it over the hump and then turned it low again quickly. I stirred the coffee and covered it. I set my timer for three minutes. Very methodical guy, Marlowe. Nothing must interfere with his coffee technique. Not even a gun in the hand of a desperate character. The coffee was all down and the air rushed in with its usual fuss and the coffee bubbled and then became quiet. I removed the top of the maker and set it on the drainboard in the socket of the cover. I poured two cups and added a slug to his.

See? Even tough guys take special care of their coffee.