Let's Have Another Cup Of Coffee

Let's Have Another Cup Of Coffee

I have been drinking coffee since I was a teenager. Early morning I would witness my father getting up and brewing coffee in a percolator. This was a stovetop pot with a stem that perched on a concave dish. This allowed the water to bubble up through the stem and disperse across a basket of ground coffee. The time it took to pour a perfect cup from this device? The time it took to shave. He would then pour two cups. One he drank with his breakfast. The other cup would then be cool enough to gulp down as he left the house. No go-cups for him.

Later, I attended St Edwards High School in Cleveland Ohio. We took the city bus to school. We usually had plenty of time to go to the cafeteria and drink a cup or two of Joe. It was dispensed out of a huge pot with the cream already mixed in. I think the idea was to provide nutrition while they woke us up before class time.

It was Folgers and Economy grind from the supermarket in those days. When I started work at the country club, I experienced the best that restaurant suppliers provided, which was basically the Economy blend in a bigger bag. 

I did get an education from the Norwegian girls that worked in the kitchen at the Interlachen club. They would take a cup of coffee before it trickled down from the brewing basket into the glass carafe's and drink it down without letting cool. No cream or sugar for these gals.

Then for years, it was the bad coffee from the breakfast restaurant where I huddled with my fellow sales reps before we went out and conquered the world. Take note, when I say bad coffee I'm judging it with todays standards.

When I was living alone in the early nineties, I fell into the habit of drinking the completely artificial cup of coffee.  It consisted of hot water, a spoonful of dried coffee, powdered creamer, and artificial sweetener. Then I became reborn.

It was when I went to visit my daughter in Switzerland. The numerous times we sat in the outdoors sipping expresso that I began to understand coffee consumption was a ceremony of sorts, not just getting jacked up for a days work. I also learned that there was a difference in coffee, starting with the bean, how it was roasted and what method was used to prepare it. I became the coffee snob.

The dawn of the age of the returning coffeeshop began with Starbuck's and then all of the local roasters who followed. I was a happy guy.

Not to belabor my recent health problems, but I must visit the situation for a moment. On October 25, 2018, I was for the most part in a hospital or in rehab, and I didn't drink coffee on a daily basis. The coffee in both rehab facilities was very average. I did find out in the last week or so at Rennes that the workers brewed their own coffee in the break room. I was lucky that a couple of them took pity on me and I scored a cup or two of their brew

I need to get this health situation behind me. It isn't a matter of digestion. It's because I lack the mobility to even make a cup of coffee. I need to become able to brew my own coffee or get myself to a coffee shop. There is a road to this event. I'm on it, and I will make it to my destination