Coffee

I've been a coffee drinker since I can remember. My grandpa used to get up early, put on a pot and get ready for the day. I can still see him at the kitchen table in his boxers, drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette.
He'd pour me a cup, doctor it up with lotsa cream and sugar and we'd just visit. That was the best coffee in the world.
Fast forward to the Navy where i learned to drink it strong and black. The term for good coffee was 'it's strong enough to float an anchor'.
If you ever want to explore the odd quirks of career naval personnel the first place you want to look is the coffee mess (Navy for the place coffee is prepared). The biggest quirk I've ever seen, and still practice today, is the inside of the coffee cup is never washed, rinsed lightly, but never washed. I have seen grown men almost come to blows over washing a personal coffee cup. Some cups haven't been washed in years, decades. It's really best to never touch another man's coffee cup.
My only coffee cup hasn't been washed in seven or 8 years. No one uses my cup. My wife has her own but she washes hers and leaves mine alone. I've warned her about it so she leaves my cup to me. She also uses that hazelnut flavor which has completely ruined the coffee pot, in my opinion. We have the dual pot so I can make mine separate.
We drink a lot of coffee. Probably a pot a day each. I get mine in before 0600, she's an all day long sipper. I can also drink three or 4 cups and then go to sleep for a few more hours.
So, herein lies several questions in the quest to get to know my fellow permies.
Do you drink coffee and how do you take it? Your fondest coffee memory? Do you wash your cup? How much do you drink? Inquiring minds want to know🙂

Michael said "He'd pour me a cup, doctor it up with lotsa cream and sugar and we'd just visit. That was the best coffee in the world.

Just spending time with Grandpa made that coffee taste so much better and made for cherished memories.

Thanks for sharing!

Like you, I never wash my coffee cup.  Why does it need washing?

I have tried actual coffee and I hate it. That stuff is just nasty.

When I was in my early 20's, mom and I decided to try a cup of cappuccino at a local deli. We instantly fell in love with it. Every time we went to town we'd get a cup of it.

One day the lady behind the counter told me about a cappuccino powdered mix that the grocery store sold. Mom and I tried it and it became part of our lives. I have many cherished memories of our 'chino drinking moments. Mom is gone now and I sorely miss those times. I can still remember her voice and see the delighted smile when she asked me if I wanted a 'chino.

Anyway, the mix was made by none other than Sara Lee, so you know it was really really good LOL! Since our first encounter with it, the 'chino has changed hands several times and now is owned by Folgers. They recently changed something because I've been drinking it forever and I can tell it's different. There still isn't any better 'chino mix anywhere.

So anyway, at the present time the only time I have it is when I'm cold.

Hi Michael,

Thanks for sharing.  Like you, coffee brings back warm childhood memories.  My coffee, too, was with lots of milk and sugar.  It was a morning ritual with my mother and father.  We were quite poor, but I remember the purchase of an electric perk.  It was as if we bought a new car. In my late teens I stopped the sugar and cream.   I drink it strong and black.  In college and my early 20s I did not wash my coffee cup ....  marriage changed that.   My coffee is normally in the early am.  My routine seems to vary from summer to winter. Right now I drink a cup, feed the animals, and then have a second cup.  In the winter I drink both cups while it is still dark.  From time to time I will have a cup before I go to bed.

Great story Michael, I love it!

I was never much of a coffee drinker till I became a teacher.  One night in my first year of teaching I tossed and turned all night thinking about what I was going to do the next day—lots of first year teachers do this.  I got up essentially sleep deprived, went to school early (I was always the first person at school) and made a 12-cup pot of coffee nice and strong.  I drank it all day and I have never looked back.

Incidentally, I was never in the Navy but I think I would have liked the coffee mess.  I, too drink my coffee strong and black—I personally consider flavors, cream, sugar, etc. to be adulterants, not flavors, but that’s just my opinion.  I have made coffee that could probably “float an anchor.”  Even better for this particular story, although I never served in the Navy, when I got to see my classroom for the first time I saw a “Navy” mug sitting on my desk.  That became my standard mug till I could get a larger, insulated mug.  Also, I never washed the mug.  Another teacher told me the mug was not dirty, but had “flavor rings.”  I became known as the school coffee hound.  I deliberately carried my mug in my hand when running errands because when people saw me with a coffee mug they just got out of the way!

Long live coffee!

At home, I put a spot of milk in my coffee. So the cup gets washed.

Camping, I drink coffee black, in a steel mug. Clean water is scarce, so a rinse is enough to make it "camping clean." (Sometimes I'll stick with tea instead, to cut down on mess and dishes -- same rule applies).

I know an old-time woodsman who runs a trapline up north. He is adamant that his old coffee pot must never be washed, or the coffee will be ruined.

Then I remembered my early backpacking days, using an aluminum pot. It definitely reacted with food and drink, adding a distinct (and unpleasant) flavour. Stainless is better, but anything acidic releases a metallic flavour. I think the patina that forms actually creates a protective seal that keeps the coffee from contacting and reacting with the metal.

I enjoy strong black coffee too.  My wife will not drink it.  She usually has me stocked up from all sorts of brands that are left overs from smuckers that I will mix with the cheap stuff.  I think washing cups is something wives must do.  I leave mine in my office so she won't touch it.  If I leave it in the kitchen it will be scrubbed shiny clean.  It take almost a week to get that cup seasoned again!

My first cup of coffee was with my grandpa when I was about 4 years old.  I never seen the farm coffee pot clean, it always had coffee in it. I was always the early riser.  He would sit at the end of the table with me at his right side.  We could talk about anything.  My grandpa was a marine from ww2 and had been raised extremely poor.  He could literally do anything if he put his mind to it.  His farm had people there all day long.  He told me his life goal was to give more back than he took. Man do I miss him.

I love coffee, but only drink it in the morning when I'm visiting my mother (at home, coffee is an afternoon beverage for me, iced or otherwise-- always black, never sweetened). She has a morning coffee ritual and it's a pleasure to be here enjoying the moment, nursing a cup of coffee with her as the sun comes up.

(I was the cups because.... I wash the dishes. At home I'll often drink my coffee from anything, like a jelly jar, and on the weekend I'll have coffee with my husband sometimes and I drink it from a heavy double whisky glass, which is my favorite, but I'm not particular.).

I'm a green tea drinker, but I'm with you on don't wash the cups or pot. I make mine in an old stainless steel coffee percolator on a timer, set to keep it just below boiling, runs for 2 hours, so it gets to temp and holds there for about 45 mins before shutting off.

Stainless steel is definitely the thing to brew in, and I generally use a stainless mug too. Once every few months I have a fit and clean my mug and pot. You are absolutely correct, it takes a good week to get the flavor back up to "right."  

Never liked the taste of coffee, will sometimes drink it just because it's the only available caffeine, but I don't choose it if I have an option.

But I'm with you, don't wash my tea stuff!!
:D

According to the coffee pot I can fit 4 cups of coffee in my travel mug. I put a little milk in my coffee, not a fan of black. I drink it all in the morning on the drive to work.  I absolutely wash my cup, yuck man! lol

       Howdy Chief and everyone else,


           I love coffee and the ritual of it. I roast it myself in a simple way and as such I can make coffee exactly the way I like it, more bean than roast and viscous. Also, I experiment with different roasts and the taste of single origin coffees from various countries from Ethiopia, the home of coffee, to oh, say Guatemala. Usually I drink it with cream and sugar, but straight black or espresso with a bit sugar too are fine. I wash my mug; just habit. One mug is enough for me. Memories? The long motorcycle rides to places known and unknown; stopping for coffee on the way in a cafe by the roadside and dining at this table of life.


            Nice topic,


             Thomas

Thomas Agresti wrote:but straight black or espresso with a bit sugar too are fine.  Thomas

Good morning, Thomas. I had my first expresso in La Maddelena, Sardinia, Italy (USS Howard W. Gilmore AS-16). There was a little shop ran by an old Italian gentleman who spoke not a word of English. Just something about the little bit of thick, black caffeine appealed to me. The first time it took it black....whoooo never again LOL that first sip was rough. I have to cut expresso with sugar to get it down. That stuff will put hair on your tongue!!!

I can't stand coffee, horrible bitter stuff I don't understand why anyone would like it. But then I hate beer, cabbage and any other bitter flavour as well. I used to work split shifts and I would always have a large coke before work as my caffeine fix, as soon as I realised I needed that to feel "me" in the morning I stopped it, I do not like being addicted to anything, and needing a caffeine hit in the morning to be normal showed me that I was addicted to it.

Skandi Rogers wrote:needing a caffeine hit in the morning to be normal showed me that I was addicted to it.

Oh, yea, I hear ya!! I'm an addict, I have to admit that!!! If I go a morning without coffee I get terrible headaches and the accompanying grouchiness. This is the second worse vice I have so I ain't doing too bad

Christopher Shepherd wrote:I enjoy strong black coffee too.  My wife will not drink it.  She usually has me stocked up from all sorts of brands that are left overs from smuckers that I will mix with the cheap stuff.  I think washing cups is something wives must do.  I leave mine in my office so she won't touch it.  If I leave it in the kitchen it will be scrubbed shiny clean.  It take almost a week to get that cup seasoned again!

My first cup of coffee was with my grandpa when I was about 4 years old.  I never seen the farm coffee pot clean, it always had coffee in it. I was always the early riser.  He would sit at the end of the table with me at his right side.  We could talk about anything.  My grandpa was a marine from ww2 and had been raised extremely poor.  He could literally do anything if he put his mind to it.  His farm had people there all day long.  He told me his life goal was to give more back than he took. Man do I miss him.

It sounds like he achieved his life goal. What a touching post. Your grandpa was a gem.

Great post. I wish I had the same memories of my grandfather, but hopefully I will be able to make those memories with my grandkids when I get to that season of life.
As for the coffee, my tastes have become quite specific to the detriment of my budget. I phased out sugar about a decade ago and cream about 2 years ago. When switching to black coffee it became apparent that the coffee I was drinking (big brand mass-produced) was awful. Through a gradual process I have worked myself into freshly ground local coffee, usually single origin, always brewed via just under boiling water through a pour over in a paper filter. Again my budget would prefer my coffee preferences of old, but my taste buds thank me every morning.

Jayme Anderberg wrote:hopefully I will be able to make those memories with my grandkids when I get to that season of life.

Easily done, brother. Make them the most important part of your life. Include them in your outings. Take them fishing and camping. Make them feel like they are the most important person in your life. Rough house with them and play those dumbassed games like old maid and go fish with enthusiasm, even when you really don't want to.

When my granddaughters were little I'd carry them around like a 'sack of 'taters' over my back, hanging on to their ankles bouncing their faces off my butt. Or, sit them on my shoulders and act like i had a rubber spine. They got to loving rough housing so much when they came over they'd come straight to me and say, "Do something to me, Papa". I'd have to sling them around and bounce their little brain buckets off the floor while they squealed with delight. They have a blast walking on my back (they are just the right size). They do the Twist and other dances and, oh...damn!!!
One by one that came to a halt when they started wearing bras. That was my line in the sand. At that point they are young ladies. I have good memories with them we laugh about when we get together. I still remind them of the pinky promise we have to never lie to each other we made when they were 4 or 5. They've had to fess up to stuff because of that.
Unlike parents, grandparents don't suddenly turn stupid when kids reach 13 but at that point you have either made a lasting impact or you've lost to their phone. In that case, best to accept defeat early. Saves wear and tear on the emotions.

Michael Dotson wrote:Unlike parents, grandparents don't suddenly turn stupid when kids reach 13 but at that point you have either made a lasting impact or you've lost to their phone. In that case, best to accept defeat early. Saves wear and tear on the emotions.

Well said, and with some obvious experience. I appreciate the wisdom. Thank you for loving your kids and grandkids, something so simple that needs to be done more. And thank you for your service sir.

My dad drank black coffee. My mom drank Maxwell House instant coffee, with milk and sugar. My brother drank his light with lots of sugar, and iced in the summer.

I like coffee as a flavor, not so much as a beverage, especially not hot, definitely not black. yuck. For years, I drank coke for the caffeine buzz as well, and not just one either... I shed 10 pounds when I quit and just drank water.

I would eat a pint of coffee ice cream right now if I had one. I'd have it for breakfast in January.
Top flavor choice for a frappe (#2 would be mocha) and in the top 3 for an ice cream cone.
Mom would make me a chocolate birthday cake, with mocha fudge frosting. Worth waiting all year for!
I went to college in Rhode Island, and was introduced to "coffee milk" there. It's a regional thing... it's like chocolate milk, but made with coffee, milk, sugar. (There's two packaged coffee syrups that you can buy at the grocery to mix with milk, and loyal factions for each brand even though they are produced by the same company!)
I got hooked on coffee milk. I still drink it on occasion, and Whole Foods has a Vietnamese coffee that is similar, but a bit stronger.

My daily is a quadruple mocha latte, which is 4 espressos, a heaping teaspoon of cocoa, a heaping tablespoon of sugar, and 24 ounces of milk. Therefore, milk is always top of the grocery list, and the reason to go today or wait...

Back when the "Mr. Coffee" machine came out, my Dad and his co-workers bought one, and their department at the paper mill became the cool place to go for coffee. They charged 25 cents a cup and quickly had to buy another Mr. Coffee to keep up. As money continued to pour in they bought a microwave oven (brand new technology), a colour TV, and even found a way to sneak a satellite dish onto the top of the mill. They barely had time to do their mill job with all the demands of their coffee lounge. I think that period was the only time my Dad actually enjoyed going to work and I'm so glad that he had that experience.

And yeah, what kind of monster would wash a coffee cup? That's not dirt, it's flavour.

Kenneth Elwell wrote:Therefore, milk is always top of the grocery list

Milk is always in short supply in my house. I go through four or 5 gallons a week by myself. I told a niece once I was getting a glass of milk. She looked at me like I had a fishing pole sticking out my ear. "With nothing in it?" She was stunned I would drink it raw lol

Hi Michael,

Great thread.  It is amazing to see how many of our best memories are interwoven with a cup of coffee.

Do you drink coffee and how do you take it? Yes, sweet (stevia, not sugar) and light (heavy cream, no fake stuff, tyvm), so yup - I wash it, daily. But, I like the coffee strong - hot or iced. I have one of those 30oz insulated yeti tumblers - on occasion, I'll refill it, once. I like good stuff, single origin, and a couple blends, as well as the better quality flavored ones. What I choose when depends on my mood and the season.

My first & fondest memories of it were of waking up to the smell of it, and my parents and paternal grandma, sitting at her kitchen table, over coffee and Grandma's biscuits & gravy, bacon, eggs, sausage, and blackberry jam. I had hot chocolate. I was probably 4? I've no doubt it happened many times, before that.

Maybe 7 years later, camping with my dad, stepmom, sibs, aunts, uncles, and cousins, was how I first tasted it. The adults all drank it strong, bitter and black, but us kids basically had lattes, until we were 14 or so - also amazing, fun memories.  

Now, I've begun trying to help our favorite coffee shop survive this employee shortage (the extra cash is helpful to me, too!) So, I'm learning about all things coffee, beginning with learning to be a barista! Our shop imports raw coffee from all over the world, with a strong preference for supporting the small farmers. The owner does all our roasting in a huge behemoth of a roaster, that's several decades old. We flavor the freshly roasted coffee, and custom grind it, to order. We not only ship, but we also provide coffee to all the better coffee shops, in the area, as well as some shops that order it shipped. The shop has created all kinds of great memories, some poignant for me, and is a big and beloved part of the community - sort of... 'Cheers' meets 'Friends'.

My experience with coffee varies. From the horrible de-caffinated filter coffee that was a few hours in a thermos flask (Germans...), over freshly brewed filter coffee that is tolerable with sugar and milk to the freshly ground and boiled coffee (no filter, just letting the grains settle) that I even drink without sugar.
Here the local coffee culture is an espresso cup with boiled coffee and you get about 8mm (1/3") of sediment in it.

John F Dean wrote:It is amazing to see how many of our best memories are interwoven with a cup of coffee.

Thanks John! What was interesting to me was all the shared memories that seemed to center around grandparents.

Anne Miller wrote:

Michael said "He'd pour me a cup, doctor it up with lotsa cream and sugar and we'd just visit. That was the best coffee in the world.

Just spending time with Grandpa made that coffee taste so much better and made for cherished memories.

Thanks for sharing!

Like you, I never wash my coffee cup.  Why does it need washing?

Uh, because I put my mouth on it, which is full of bacteria just looking for a place to flourish?

Sure, don't wash your pot - it boils every day and doesn't have anything more biologically exciting than coffee grounds in it.  But I draw the line at the cup.

I use an Aeropress with a metal filter every day (and only wash it every few days) for my single morning cup of coffee.  It's lasted 13 years and is going strong.  I also have a Vietnamese coffee maker, Turkish ibrik*, stovetop espresso maker, jar full of tea strainers, and bamboo whisk for matcha, none of which get used nearly enough.

*My best friend went to Greece and fell in love with the coffee there, so bought a Greek coffee maker and that's her weekend morning ritual.  Just never ask for a Greek coffee at a Turkish restaurant or vice versa...

Michael Dotson wrote:

John F Dean wrote:It is amazing to see how many of our best memories are interwoven with a cup of coffee.

Thanks John! What was interesting to me was all the shared memories that seemed to center around grandparents.

My grandma drank lots and lots of terrible coffee - after a weekend visiting her my mom would sneak off to a shop for a decent cup. :)

Most of my favorite coffee memories are from the early-mid 90s.  As a 20-something trying to figure out what I was doing, quirky coffee shops were an adult-feeling mini-luxury.  I still remember finding favorite places in Baltimore, D.C., Pittsburgh, and Seattle.

Terrible coffee is another thing all together.   It is amazing that what one person sees as great coffee another sees it as undrinkable

.

John F Dean wrote:Terrible coffee is another thing all together

I talked about a coffee mess onboard ship in the OP. There is a 'Mess Crank' (a junior sailor assigned to the galley where food is prepared and served) in attendance to the coffee pots, giant urns is what they are. This Crank is to keep an eye on the coffee and condiments, among other things. May God almighty Himself have mercy upon the soul of the Crank that screws up the coffee. The Mess Chief will descend from the Chief's Mess to shred his soul. Coffee is to be made carefully, the old grounds removed immediately and a two hour timer started. When the timer stops the old coffee is drained and new is made. Deviation is highly discouraged. Deviation will get you assigned to clean bilges and shine bright work after galley duties are done.
At sea the galley is open 24/7 so the coffee is always fairly fresh, at least. A warship doesn't drop anchor at night so everyone can sleep :) In port after midnight it's a crap shoot, but at 0400 there is a fresh pot on for the crew. Every year there's a huge inspection for the Galley. The coffee pots have their own category to include prompt coffee and condiment attention.

I grew up drinking coffee, mostly with cream and sugar when we had it available. Even as an adult I liked coffee with cream only, no sugar. But recently (the last 3-4 years) I began wondering what I'd do without the fixin's if the cream was hard to come by. So I started drinking my coffee black and I've stuck to it, my wife is not impressed. She doesn't like black coffee and she doesn't like my breath when I've been drinking black coffee.

I usually start the morning about daylight by perking a pot of coffee on the stove, and I drink a cup or so before I head off to work. I take a travel cup with me and there is enough to reheat when I get back for a last cup before bed. Right now I am drinking the cheap stuff, Folgers from sav-a-lot, something like $6 a gallon can.

i had to stop drinking coffee in 2000, after i graduated from college. it was tearing my stomach up a bit too much. i drank it black. with sugar when i was a teenager, but mostly black. i am generally a fan of bitter flavors (malort, anyone?). as much as ‘bad coffee is bad’, there was always a warm spot in my heart for good (no, it was bad) diner coffee. nothin’ like it on a road trip.

now an avowed tea drinker. mostly blacks and oolongs.

My favourite time of year is when I switch from my stovetop espresso to making cold brew. So smooth and delicious. I have mine with a splash of maple syrup and hemp milk, or koji-fermented oat milk if I happen to have Koji at the time. I can and do enjoy it black with no sweetener, but I also like to experiment. Coffee grosses out my girlfriend so it's part of my daily routine that's 100% solo and that's fine by me! Coincidentally, I often browse Permies with my cup in the morning.

      Good Morning Michael,


      About your espresso in Spain, yes. My first espresso was in Italy, in a small town North of Verona. I drank it with family and since they always put sugar in, I just followed along. Superb... crema and viscous and sweet and more coffee than the coffee you could get here or here back then. Additionally, I think your advice about grandchildren was lovely, accurate and spot on from their importance to roughhousing and games and to letting them become adults. Sage advice Michael. Back to coffee, I'm finishing the last bit of an Ethiopian Guji hambela dabaye. It's roasted a bit after first crack, however not too much. I have been appreciating Ethiopian coffees for the better part of a year, the dry processed and I'm looking forward to more experimentation and exploration in the future.


         Best,


        Thomas

          Howdy C murphy,


               You have piqued my interest. How do you make your cold brew? Just the regular old way or something different?


           Cheers,



             Thomas

Good coffee, black. Or with a pinch of sugar if it's not such good coffee.

I know it's a cliche but coffee is maybe my ultimate "need" to have a good day. I know from experience that having even a single gulp from a cup shared between 5 guys can dramatically improve my outlook during hard times.

Hi Thomas,

I prepare my cold brew by grinding the beans (slightly coarser than usual) and adding them to a jar, filling with water, shaking to combine, then refrigerating 8-12hrs. Then I strain and enjoy. I use different ratios of coffee to water depending on whether I have regular or espresso beans, but usually around 4 oz coffee to 4 cups of water.

Some people use a French press for this but I find it encourages bitter flavours and I enjoy mine smooth. An upside is that you can make large batches and have coffee ready to go all week, saves a little time in the morning.

Hope that helps,
Chelsea

      Howdy Chelsea,


             Thanks for the recipe; It sounds like a good one and I'm going to try it out. On another note, I primarily make coffee on the stove with a Moka pot because I like analogue best and I can extract, in my opinion, only the good stuff and none of the bittering oils from the bean; I'm with you on that!

               Cheers,

             Thomas

I found out that in the coffee shop, we use the same cold brewing recipe that I've used at home, for years. 1lb medium-roast coffee, coarse ground, to 1 gallon of cold, (filtered, spring, or distilled)  water. Chill 24hrs, and filter. To serve, use 2oz brew to 6 oz cold water, add ice as preferred. This stuff sells like crazy.

Loved the story, and the stories to follow.  
At work my friend and I ended up with each others cups at the end of the shift. We both suture and had matching forest green mugs.  They were engraved with our names, but at the end of a 12 hour shift, who notices these things?  When I went to wash the one I took home I noticed the error because his cup had likely not ever been washed.  He is an old military medic so likely he has similar customs.  
Me, I wash my cup and my aeropress with metal filter.  I make two cups in the morning and blend them up with ghee and MCT oil Bulletproof style.  One cup goes in an open fat sipping mug and is finished slowly but before much of anything else is done.  The other goes in the insulated travel mug and goes to work or garden with me.  I have now gotten my children hooked on Bulletproof as well so as often as we can i go visit and we sip together.

My favorite thing about this thread is that not a single person has mentioned Starbucks!

Like many others, my first memories of coffee involve my grandparents. My grandpa was a WWII vet who insisted on a cup of coffee with a touch of cream each morning. He and my grandma were always already up and having their cups by the time we came down the stairs; or rather, Grandpa was reading the paper and sipping his while Grandma was bustling around cleaning the kitchen--that woman, for all her many flaws, kept the cleanest kitchen I've ever seen. My favorite part of mornings at their house was the amazing smell of their coffee wafting through the kitchen. When they were visiting us, they brought folgers instant coffee with them, in regular and decaf (since my dad was a man with no vices, he would never have spent his money on coffee for anyone). It was an absolute ritual for them to have their coffee together, something they never missed--just like roast beef on friday nights, or a gin and tonic punctually at 5 o'clock. Their rituals must have done them well, my grandpa lived until 97 and my grandma is still going strong well into her eighties.

When I was 18, never having tasted coffee, I sampled a couple of chocolate-covered coffee beans in the local health food store. Wowwww!!! I turned into that squirrel from Over the Hedge!! I have always been a fairly bright, energetic person, but this was a whole new level--I could only imagine the possibilities. Being that all of my friends at the time were coffee fanatics, I knew I had to become a user myself. A few days after the coffee bean incident, I went to the local coffee shop and ordered a to-go cup of their darkest brew--black. Oh my god! Nastyyyyy! I went over to the grocery store and bought sugar to add...nope, now it was just bitter plus sweet, yuck. I went back into the grocery store and bought a bottle of my favorite chocolate milk (Promised Land Dairy, anyone?) and poured it into my cup. Now, this was acceptable. (Only later in my coffee journey would I learn that that first cup was just really crappy coffee.)

About a year later I got my first job, waitressing at a diner that was so classic it was one step away from working in a nursing home. I never made the coffee there, that was a job for the other waitresses, mean old bitches who had been there since it opened, women who had lived hard lives and showed it but loved and protected me like mama bears. I never understood until reading this thread just now, why they gave me such puzzled looks when I proudly scrubbed the coffee pots to sparkling. Obviously in my overeagerness I had committed a major coffee faux-pas!

After about a year at that job, I moved up in the world and took a job at a bistro where they served real coffee, complete with an espresso machine imported from Italy. I was so very attentive as they showed me how to grind the beans, pull an espresso, and foam milk. I was fascinated and made it my job to be the very best on that machine. My bosses were so impressed when someone told them that the capuccino I made tasted just like one they had tasted in Italy!

Then I had kids and found out quickly that breastfeeding and caffeine do not mix. That was sad! But I waited patiently, and when I weaned my son, I was so sad to end that phase of my life and comforted myself by finding a shop with an italian espresso machine and ordering myself a latte. Delicious. Soon I found myself making excuses to go to the city just so I could grab a latte--so in a quest to preserve sanity and a bit of cash, I splurged on a french press. For us, that contraption is worth it's weight in gold! A rollercoaster year full of so much sadness and stress has been much ameliorated by many cups of smooth rich coffee.

So there's my story! Thanks so much to everyone else who has shared. I would love to be able to drink a warm cuppa joe someday with each one of you!