coffee
The Coffee Experiment, Day 30 or so
I have just about finished up the bag of Starbucks dark roast that we had here at home, what to get next? Well, I came home from work yesterday to find that my beautiful wife had picked up a pound of Columbian Orange Bourbon light roast from Brewed Awakenings, and a coffee grinder to go with it. What a great surprise!
So this morning, after one false start (didn’t grind the beans finely enough the first time), I’ve got a pot of coffee that tastes awfully close to what I drink down at BA when I visit there. Very good stuff. At some point maybe I’ll try out the french press and be a true coffee snob, but for now this stuff is working for me just fine.
The Coffee Experiment, Day 12
Wow, it’s been a week since I’ve posted an update on The Coffee Experiment. I think it’s really time to stop calling it an experiment, and just call it a new normal part of my everyday life. I’ve consistently been setting the timer to have the coffee brewed for me in the morning, and it’s done a good job at keeping me going through the day. At the moment I’m still working through the bag of Starbucks dark roast that’s been in the freezer. I imagine it’ll take me another few weeks to get through it. After that, I’ll head down to Brewed Awakenings and decide what to try next.
Speaking of Brewed Awakenings, I hung out there for a while on Friday morning and tried a couple different drinks. First, Nate suggested a Don Correllejo, which is a double-shot espresso with Mexican chocolate added. Yummy. After that I had some of their daily light roast, which was also good, even drinking it black. I need a job where I can just spend mornings hanging out down at the coffeehouse. That would rock.
One funny thing I found out when visiting my folks this past weekend: it seems that my mother, a life-long coffee-disdainer, within a day or so of the start of my Coffee Experiment yet having not yet read about it on my blog, took up the coffee habit herself. Sounds like it’s so far, so good for her as well. I think everybody in our family now drinks the stuff.
So, wow. I’m now a coffee drinker. I feel so grown up.
The Coffee Experiment, Day 5
After yesterday’s run-in with completely nasty office coffee, I decided I would try brewing some better coffee up at home. While Jason and Daniel both suggested a french press, I decided that I should first make sure this coffee thing is gonna stick before I make the investment. So I pulled our drop coffeemaker out of the basement (where it is stored awaiting visitors) and set it up to brew this morning.
We had coffee stored from the last time we’ve had visitors, too, which isn’t terrifically fresh, but at least has been stored in the freezer. It’s a Starbucks dark roast. I set it all up last night and set the timer for 0500 this morning, which is ten minutes before my alarm goes off. I was wondering if I’d smell the coffee all the way back in the bedroom. I didn’t, though I think that is mostly because we have all the windows open and the ceiling fans on. I did, though, hear the thing start brewing just before my alarm went off to officially wake me up.
I poured a cup, splashed in a little milk, sat down with my breakfast cereal and the newspaper. It was really pretty good. Once this bag of coffee is used up I might want to try something a little lighter, but still… not bad at all, and far better than yesterday’s office fare.
I had been thinking that I had an insulated cup that I could take along to the office with me, but I guess we must’ve gotten rid of it some time ago. So, only one cup for me this morning. I’ll find a mug today and be able to bring that second cup along to work tomorrow. I’m starting to think this experiment might just be a success.
The Coffee Experiment, Day 4
I’m not sure whether to call this Day 4 or Day 6 of The Coffee Experiment. Do I count the weekend where I didn’t drink coffee? I guess I’ll be conservative and call this Day 4.
The office coffee, to this point, has been palatable. While being Folgers, which Allie assured me Saturday night isn’t really coffee, it has been drinkable with a bit of powdered creamer added for good measure. This morning, though, is a different story. This morning the coffee is bitter and nasty. Glad I got some sleep last night because I’m not gonna be getting any caffeine assistance this morning.
Daniel noted that for this reason he takes his own coffee to work. While at the grocery store yesterday I was contemplating picking up some coffee to brew at home, but thought I might wait a few more days to see how The Experiment pans out. After this morning, I’m thinking I might accelerate that purchase schedule a bit.
The Coffee Experiment, Day 2
For 31 years I have professed to very much dislike coffee. If in need of caffeine to keep me going, I will resort to a diet pop of some sort, or, in extreme cases, Red Bull. However, my Diet Pepsi consumption levels have been high for the past month, and given the cost of Diet Pepsi and the knowledge that even diet pop has been shown to be not-so-good for you in studies, I figured it was time to give the coffee a shot. We’ve got a communal coffee pot here in the office where Folgers is brewed for donations.
Yesterday was day one. I took my coffee black and it was not too bad. The caffeine did its job just fine, and I didn’t find myself craving the Diet Pepsi for the buzz… only for the sweetness. I had brought a Diet Pepsi along and went ahead and drank it for lunch.
Today is day two. I started the morning with two cups of coffee, this time using some non-dairy creamer, which I found helped things out quite a bit. And today I haven’t craved Diet Pepsi at all. Coffee also seems to fill me up less than the pop did; it feels more like I’ve just drank lots of water.
Anyway, I don’t know that I’d consider myself a total convert yet, but two days in I’m appreciating the concept of drinking coffee. Next stop: brewing it for myself at home in the mornings. I’ll wait a bit for that one and see if the habit takes.