Morning coffee

I love coffee. Especially in the morning. Usually can't wait for that first sip. It's the best part of breakfast. I like it best at home, but I'll stop and buy some for a morning car trip. Doesn't have to be fancy. I don't especially care for that Coffee-Palace-From-Hell, Starbucks (which I expect to open a branch in my living room any day just because of the way they proliferate!). Maybe people like burnt, over-roasted coffee with whipped cream on top, but gimme something from my local Cup O'Joe or Stauf's Coffee Roasters. Heck, a fresh pot at the Speedway does me. So while I love coffee, I ain't picky. At home, I like Folger's or Maxwell House, though Kroger has some good blends. And, yes. I use that pre-ground stuff. It's what I grew up on (actually, I grew up on instant coffee, so brewed is a real step up!), and I cannot face the racket of grinding beans first thing of the day. And no flavored coffees either. Just a way to disguise poor quality coffee beans and it rarely tastes like "chocolate raspberry" or whatever is being foisted off as the flavor. I drink my coffee black most of the time, although at work I mix the coffee (which I usually have at my first break on days I open) with a shot of the "cappucino" from the machine there. It's powdered creamer mostly, but it comes out hot so I can keep the coffee at a decent temperature to drink on a 15 min. break. I keep some sugar-free Torani syrups at home in case I feel like tarting up my coffee in the afternoon or evening, which are the times I usually tart up coffee. Raspberry or caramel are what usually find their way in. A cinnamon stick or a cardamom pod are good to stick in the filter basket if I'm in the mood for that sort of thing.

Coffee is something that smells better than it tastes, and when I think of puppy breath, I liken it to the smell of freshly ground coffee beans. Of course, that is long before they become Dogzilla. Whose breath could generally melt the paint off a barn. No, no. You have to catch the wee beasties before they are fully weaned and just living on puppy chow and mother's milk. I generally don't do decaffeinated coffee because I liken it to non-alcoholic beer. What IS the point? I consume beer and coffee primarily because I am going for the mood-altering effects, with taste a distant second factor. Instant coffee is good to have around for baking, but otherwise, only in a real pinch if no other kind of coffee is available.

My favorite coffee drinking experience is probably the coffee I drank from styrofoam cups on the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. I was the only one in my group that got up to watch the sun come up over the canyon, and there was nothing quite like standing there in the chill air with a warm cup of coffee warming my hands and watching the sun peep up on the horizon. Of course, there was also that woman who came huffing out of one of the government "hotels" that is on the rim and asked "Well, where does the sun come up?" I privately thought that anyone who had forgotten where the sun came up (even if you had forgotten all of your Girl Scout training,which would have told you that if you were facing north, the east is off to your right, the rosy glow in the sky should have been a sign) should probably not be standing so close to an unfenced 400 ft. drop, but I just gestured instead. I also love a cup of coffee after a nice run or walk on a snowy morning or when the sun is just coming up on a cool summer morning and I am on the back porch at my dad's. Drinking coffee with my friend Meg, whenever we manage to get together for one of our girl's nights in, is also one of my favorite things about coffee.

So that's my coffee story. Doing laundry now, and it is about time to check on it. And pour my second cup of coffee.....