A few years ago, my Beloved and I decided to purchase a new coffee maker. In the process, we also decided we’d bite the bullet (so to speak) and purchase a package of what several websites recommended as the “best of the best” brands. When you plunk down cash for an expensive coffee maker, don’t you want the best coffee to go with it? It made sense.
Sadly, we discovered it was impossible (for us anyway) to distinguish a significant difference between the coffee we’d been drinking for years and the highly-rated brand. Given the price of the highly-rated brand, we agreed to change back to our previous brand, a brand which produced a satisfactory cup of brew for our untrained palates.
As coffee-drinkers go, I was something of a latecomer. I’ve dabbled with it, but always wondered how legit a coffee-drinker I could be. Given my usual ratio of cream to coffee, it might be more accurate to suggest I was a cream-drinker who happened to add a dash of coffee. My personal preferences worked against me.
Starbucks has plenty of competition today
In the last decade coffee vendors (both national franchises and local entrepreneurs), coffee bars and drive-through outlets have popped up almost everywhere around our area! I suspect the same is true across the country. It’s been a helpful way to try new brands and refine one’s coffee preferences.
Still, I have come to understand I will never be a coffee connoisseur. I just want a cup of pleasant coffee I can enjoy … all day, everyday … without feeling apologetic for the cream I’ve included in my mug. (In truth, not only do I add cream, I also top every cup with a generous amount of whipped cream!)
My Beloved drinks one cup of coffee in the morning, leaving the remainder of the pot for me. Because we have an insulated carafe, the contents will stay ready most of the day, awaiting my yearnings for a warm-up. It’s rare at the end of a day for the pot to have more than a few tablespoons left. But, even if the pot’s empty, in a mere four minutes I’m able to brew a fresh pot.
The fresh aroma of coffee beans makes me want to breathe deeper. The brewing aroma often awakens me from a night of sleep. (My Beloved rises before me and is the one who usually gets the coffee pot going.) When I’m ready to tackle a project (big or small), I launch into it with a steaming cup of coffee in hand. If I’m looking at company spreadsheets or another business-related tangle, I find a cup of coffee often eases my overall approach to these mundane pursuits.
What’s My Usual Cup?
I’ve denied the connoisseur label. Nor am I a coffee nerd. Technical terms related to coffee consumption and discrimination are beyond me. I imagine the educated coffee folks would consider my tastes fairly pedestrian but I’m okay with that. In our household, we use Pablo’s Pride (a Sam’s Club item), a medium-dark roast, whole bean, Arabica coffee from Guatemala. The beans are ground daily by my Beloved. That said, I believe I’ve exhausted my general knowledge about the product I enjoy.
In my cup (as previously mentioned), I use half-n-half creamer plus a generous dollop of real whipped cream. This represents what I consider my perfect cup.
As is my habit, there seemed a natural progression to compose a poem, given my general appreciation of what I characterize as the Grand Elixir.
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