Coffee Beans Smell Divine

My mother was an elementary school teacher and every morning she would drink one or two cups of coffee. My dad thought coffee was some sort of evil concoction that should be avoided at all costs. He never understood why anyone would want to drink it. I grew up mystified by the black stuff in mom’s cup. Was it next to poison like my dad said? If it was then why did my mom seem to like it so much?  Because I was a child I wasn’t allowed to drink it. Dad assured me it would stunt my growth if I did. I was left to wonder if coffee was something that helped your heart start beating in the morning (that’s what my mom told me), or a bad thing that would, “rot my innards,” like my dad said.

Both my grandfatheds were coffee drinkers and years later I learned from my brother that he would take them to a local restaurant and if they wanted coffee they were allowed to have some. So much for equal treatment of the sexes. Anyway, I wasn’t too curious about it because during the high school years I was interested in other things. Then came college and I quickly learned that the only way I could stay up late at night studying was to consume at least a pot of coffee. I didn’t care about the taste; instant or whatever was handy would do. It could have been motor oil for all I cared, as long as it kept me awake to study.

For years and years I drank coffee for the same reason my mom did: to make my heart start beating every morning. Then a few years ago a dear friend of mine who happens to be a flight attendant brought me some coffee from Brazil. For the first time in my life I had coffee that didn’t taste like starter fluid. It was delicious! This was the coffee I had been waiting for all my life!

I know there are those of you reading this who will say, “What about Starbucks or other coffee houses?” I tried them a couple of times but when you are just drinking coffee mainly for the jolt, the taste doesn’t really matter. And when taste doesn’t matter then the cheap stuff works just as well as the top of the line. As for lattes and frappes, in my book that isn’t coffee. That’s morning dessert with a hint of coffee flavor.

The good news is that because of my friend and her Brazilian coffee I now know that there is a vast difference in brands, flavors and taste. The bad news is I shop at IGA or Kroger, not in Brazil.

So what do I do now that my coffee taste buds have fully developed and the coffee I crave is in another country?

The only thing I can do…..without!

Beans Matter

Oh, I’m not going totally without coffee. I just can’t have the kind I want.

There are alternatives and I know that the beans are what make or break the way coffee tastes. For Christmas one of our sons gave his dad a grinder. Bill loves it and enjoys using it in the mornings when he isn’t in a rush. I think one of the reasons he loves it so much is that his grandmother worked in a grocery store when he was young and when we would go and visit her there he would go sniff the coffee beans. He was in love with coffee from the time he was 8 or 9 years old.

It does make good coffee but it’s too much trouble for me. I prefer our Keurig because I can pop in one of those little cups and be out the door in just a couple of minutes.

When it comes to coffee I think I’m more like the writer, Dave Barry, who said, “It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity.”

How about you? Do you drink coffee for the taste or to get your motor running in the morning?