Me and Coffee
Let’s just say that, until this year, 2012, there WAS no me
and coffee. We were distant acquaintances at best.
My mom drank coffee—a LOT of coffee. I loved the smell.
Seriously loved it. But the one time I tried to drink her coffee—a little cold,
leftover stuff from the bottom of the pot—I hated it. Go figure. But more on
that later.
So I stuck to the occasional soda for my caffeine boosts. Even
in college, I could never pull an all-nighter, possibly because of my lack of
commitment to caffeine. I’d get tired, drink a Coke, and pass out twenty
minutes later.
But in college, I learned something (shocker, I know!). No,
really. During one long rehearsal, my directing professor asked me to make a
pot of coffee. I made it the way I always made it for my mom and brought it
into the theater. He took a sip and, being a theater professor, his reaction
left nothing to the imagination. He didn’t quite do a spit-take (we had a brand
new theater building), but damn near.
“What did you do to this coffee?”
“I don’t know—I just made it like I do for my mom. I put in
eleven scoops for ten cups of water.”
Possibly this explains why I hadn’t liked my mom’s
coffee???? Either way, that ended my association with coffee for years. The
Starbucks revolution rolled on without me. Motherhood caused lots of sleep
deprivation, but I managed with the odd cup of tea or two. Fast-forward to
about a year ago, when two irresistible forces began to act on my immovable resistance
to coffee-commitment.
One, I tripled my editing workload. I’m not just working
some afternoons, evenings, and weekends now, but working all of them. And late
evenings. I couldn’t spend 10+ minutes waiting every time I wanted a cup of tea—in
an editing marathon, if I need a cup of tea every hour in a forty-hour weekend,
that’s four hundred lost minutes. You can make coffee faster and by the pot. Plus,
the tea just wasn’t working.
Two, some weird craving overtook me. I’ve always loved dark
chocolate, but suddenly I couldn’t get it dark enough. I wanted something more bitter,
with more strength to it. I wanted something that tasted like coffee smelled.
Always caffeine-commitment-phobic, I didn’t know where to
start. My sister suggested mocha as my gateway drink. I liked it just fine, but
if I tried to pull off an edit on Starbucks café mochas—well, I’d probably use
up my fee. Time to take it a step further. I needed to buy a coffee maker.
Like anyone afraid of committing, I invested as little as
possible. I bought a Brew-n-Go drip coffee maker, which makes 16 ounces. Then I
had to find coffee. I tried a couple of different brands and roasts, but
nothing hit home until I found my true love: Pilon Espresso Coffee. We’re in
love, me and coffee!
Mind you, despite my Cuban paramour, I’m still probably a lukewarm lover. The
directions say to use one tablespoon of grounds per demitasse cup. Yeah…no. I use about a tablespoon and a half for the whole 16 ounces. But at least I’m
faithful--I haven't flirted with another brand yet!
And, when I do sit down, I sure appreciate a warm, strong,
steamy…cup of coffee.
Yes, I will be
drinking more coffee tonight as I wrap up an editing project. It’s date night
for me and coffee!
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