TheBanyanTree: Coffee

[Pam James]

I am not a coffee connoisseur.  I just love a great cup of coffee first
thing in the morning!  I'm not really sure about the whole caffeine waking
me up bit (although that may be absolutely true), just that going through
the motions of sitting and sipping gives my brain and body a chance to wake
up!  (Same-same?!?!)

But I get so tired of making the coffee!!!  My second husband used to make
it and leave my vitamins sitting beside the pot.  It was a sweet act of
love - until he decided he'd rather be elsewhere.  My last husband used to
get up first and make the coffee, or if he left super early to golf, he'd
pre-make the second pot for me - regardless of whether we were talking or
not.  It was thoughtful.

But it turns out I'm not great at maintaining the relationships that get my
coffee made, so I have to make it myself!  As a friend used to say,
"Dayum!".

And so every morning, making coffee is a part of the routine that includes
saying hello to 7 animals, letting 4 dogs outside to relieve themselves,
filling water bowls, filling cat food and dog food bowls, tossing cat
treats for all the animals to scramble for, and handing out frozen treats
while I'm getting coffee cubes for my mug, and ice cream to put the dog
meds in.  waunt-waunt-WAUNT-waunt-waunt!  (Read that with the right whine!)
Rinse and repeat!

I've tried a Keurig a few times.  But while they are super convenient, I
feel guilty about the landfill waste, and then I go back to a traditional
pot.  Until I say, 'screw it!', and go back to a Keurig.  I'm currently
with a pot.  But my neighbor has a Keurig and I have been known to go over
to visit *specifically* to grab a quick cup of coffee!!

I have a coffee press, but I haven't used it yet.  My friend's son visited
Costa Rica and brought me back a kilo of coffee beans!  (ha!  I thought
kilos were only for drugs!!)  I ground some of the beans once and made a
pot, but then I put the beans back in the cabinet.  So wasted on me!

I buy the small 'bags' of ground coffee. And I'm cheap and don't like to
pay more than $5 a bag!  So I look for sales at the commissary, or Lidl or
Aldi or even Harris Teeter or TJMaxx!  It all tastes the same to me!  But
it's all also medium roast.  I don't like dark roasts - I think they taste
bitter.  However, I was reading something or other a couple of months ago,
and it stated that a bit of salt will take any bitterness out of coffee, so
now I keep a salt cellar by the pot and I toss some in everyday!  I have
impressed friends with that trick!!

Anyway, all of this because the act of making coffee annoys me, but it's
something I gotta do!!  I have tried tricking myself and setting it up at
night so in the morning all I have to do is push a button!  It's almost
like somebody else made it!  hahaha!!

<sigh>  Mostly I love visiting my friend Maria.  SHE will happily make me
coffee, in the morning or the afternoon, pour it, add a drop of creamer,
and hand it to me while I sit and enjoy being waited on!!  It is a special
gift and I never take it for granted... There is always a little more
feeling in my sip and sigh when it's been handed to me by another coffee
maker person!!

But I'm no connoisseur!

Pam