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Coffee - Treat or Necessity?

September 30, 2005

The nice folks over to Vancouver Coffee are asking the musical question “When do you drink your coffee?”

They appear to be much more the “have it as a treat” type folks -

I would hate to arrive at one day when coffee is such a necessity that we lose the ritual and stop admiring coffee for its taste and the pleasure it brings into our day.

So, I would ask all coffee drinkers out there to see if they are drinking coffee for the need only, or for something more too…

Not me. To be sure, coffee is a pleasure and I do obsess over the taste find the taste very important (I’d better, given the roaster, and the giant green bean collection, the espresso machines, the serious grinders, etc..)

But there is no starting the day without coffee. I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, and the first cup of coffee of the day comes before attempting anything complex, like “coherent speech”.

These days I’m starting my morning by trying to navigate the new serious semi-automatic machine here (more about this soon), grinding, tamping and pulling two double-shots of espresso into 6 oz of hot water, for a Cafe Americano with range and striking power.

The rich taste (this week, a blend of Brazilian Sweet Yellow Datera, a dry-processed Sumatra, Ethiopian Harrar, and Guatemalan Finca La Primavera) is both critical and sublime.

The warmth of the cup, and the heavy mouthfeel of the espresso sooth my nerves, and steady me for the day.

After about half a cup, the smoke begins to roll out of my ears, and a deep rumble begins.

I recapitulate philology, and move rapidly from reptile-like torpor right up through the mammals and into the primates.

The world snaps into focus with an audible crack, the status lights on my frontal lobes switch from “pre-heat” to “ready”, coherent thought returns, and I’m ready to face the day.

There is no “optional” in “coffee”.

There is bad coffee, average coffee, good coffee, amazing coffee and transcendent coffee, but no optional coffee.

What about you?

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Written by User ImageChuck Lawson · Filed Under Caffeine 
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Comments

3 Responses to “Coffee - Treat or Necessity?”

  1. no imageRyan Lee (Check me out!) on October 2nd, 2005 9:37 am

    Hahahahaha.

    Me too, and well put.

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    		2.5
  2. no imageArieanna (Check me out!) on October 2nd, 2005 1:20 pm

    lol, good point. I think we do try to rub the fuzz from our eyes before brewing in the morning, but I think I’m farily close to necessity :)

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    		2.4
  3. no imageCarldec (Check me out!) on October 3rd, 2005 12:32 am

    for sure….

    i need at least two cups of strong coffe ever morning or i dont work well.

    I used to make a big pot every morning in a gevalia drip aperatus, but my wife pulled out the french press a few monthes ago and it makes 2 good cups. Its the first thing I do every morning.

    no coffee, no worky for Carl

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    		2.5

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