Morning Coffee

Coffee, Java, Joe is the great American morning beverage. My mother used to make perked coffee every morning at breakfast, before work for herself and my Aunt. My father wouldn’t touch the stuff. Perked coffee is horrible. On top of that my mother bought the cheapest coffee she could find at the Stop and Shop. The A&P used to have coffee grinders at the end of each checkout counter, so that you could at least get fresh ground. My mother bought Maxwell House in a vacuum packed can with a key on the bottom. My Aunt would occasionally make the coffee, which was worse. She would boil it in a pan on the stove, not exactly Starbucks. She was actually my father’s aunt and she smoked unfiltered cigarettes until she died. I can still see her sitting at the kitchen table smoking a cigarette and sipping that vile coffee before going off to work.

My Uncle would grab coffee at the Green Café on his way to teach at the high school. This was not Starbucks coffee either. It was made in a huge vat behind the counter and it came black or with cream. You added your own sugar. I swore I would never drink the stuff.

When I got to Law School all that changed. I had to figure a way to stay awake after studying half the night. So, I became addicted. Someone at the Law Review office made fresh coffee everyday. I decided that it was not half bad. I never saw what kind it was or how it was made but it did the trick.

A few years later, when I had actual money to spend I started buying fresh beans, whole, and grinding them myself. Since Law School I have not missed a day of having my morning coffee. In fact, I have become somewhat of a coffee snob. I do not drink Starbucks coffee. The bags of whole beans they sell are full of broken pieces and I am not convinced that they sell truly fresh beans. I also have disdain for all those flavored coffees with cream and caramel and froth and what not on them. However, I am not a purist in the fullest extent of the word. I always drink coffee with half and half or cream [never milk and never ever skim milk] and some sugar. I used to drink it like the Brazilians with about a table spoon of sugar but I have cut back to just a teaspoon. I also sometimes put ground green cardamom or cinnamon [something exotic from a spice shop] in the ground beans.

The type of beans is important. I stay away from Jamaican Blue Mountain or the fancy Hawaiian stuff [and forget about the beans that come from civet cats]. These types are way too expensive. I prefer beans from Indonesia or Ethiopia. South and Central America are just too bland. Other African beans will do in a pinch. French roast is good if you want a real strong coffee but the medium roasts are fine with me. Blends of coffee beans can also be good. Peet’s Coffee sells Major Dickenson’s Blend [which is to be Lance Armstrong’s favorite blend]. I like it too and , in general, the beans Peet’s sells are pretty good. I have tried buying coffee beans on the internet. You can get a great variety but they seem a little stale to me. However you like it nothing beats a hot cup of coffee on a Sunday morning with the paper.