Last Call: The Coffee Trick That Only You Know About

Today's story about Lutheran egg coffee/church basement coffee/Swedish egg coffee got us thinking about all the hundreds of ways to approach a cup of caffeine. Never in a thousand years would it have occurred to me to mash a raw egg into a pot of coffee grounds; indeed, if presented with that information in the office breakroom, I would have responded, "um, is that even safe to drink?" (It is.) And yet, someone somewhere figured out how beautifully egg can temper the bitterness of the beans, to the benefit of us all. Then, of course, there's East Asian egg coffee, which uses egg yolk as a thickener right inside the mug. And I've heard tell that simply placing spent egg shells on top of a filter full of grounds will do a lot to mellow the brew, too. It seems like there will always be more to learn about coffee, a culinary world unto itself. Do you have any tips and tricks when it comes to achieving the perfect cup?