My coffee origin story (under construction)

I grew up with a mother that loved coffee. I remember the first time I was highly aware of how much she drank coffee when I was in middle school. I never drank coffee, so when a lesson in school talked about the negatives of coffee drinking, I was quick to take note. This was in the early 80’s and I have no idea what study this was that supposedly found harmful results of coffee drinking. There have been countless done since that praise coffee and its benefits (am I right?). Anyways, I remember taking home the study and laying out my case of how she shouldn’t be drinking so much coffee. It wasn’t good for her, etc., etc.. My lovely mother was very understanding and listened to the argument against coffee drinking intently, nodding in agreement. The next day, she totally ignored my advice and went on drinking coffee every-single-day and still does to this day! The nerve. She is the healthiest person at her age that I know.

Fast forward to college. This is where I fell in love with coffee. Not because I liked coffee, but because I NEEDED coffee. It was the coffee from a vending machine, the community pot in classes and the Folgers that I brewed at home. Always with cream and sugar. Always. This was the norm through my college life and into my military life. I was starting to toy with the idea of making “better” coffee in the communal industrial coffee pot during a training class. I was getting the perfect ratios of coffee to water to the point I was designated the coffee maker for the class. I’m not sure if that was because I was good at it or I was just a sucker, but it planted a seed.

After the service, now happily married to my beautiful wife and three awesome boys later, I found myself with a job in a downtown metroplex. Still adding cream and sugar to the coffee, but I was making it at home and started really paying attention to the taste. I started grinding beans instead of using grocery grounds. My coffee game was getting better and I started to look for better beans. I found it at a downtown roaster. While this roaster did make for the masses. They were adding flavors to coffee and selling in the grocery stores. They also had single-origin beans. They had a lot of single-origin beans. To the tune of over 50 different varieties. I was intrigued and wanted to see if I could taste them all. So, being the geek I was, I started a spreadsheet and listed all of their beans and started trying them. Still adding creamer and sugar, but I went on a coffee journey from the experience. I went from a blade grinder to a burr grinder. I went from a drip coffee maker to a french press. I started to pay attention to the water I used. I was making awesome coffee and then ruining it with creamer and sugar! Basically I weaned myself off that crutch when the coffee started to taste less like the burnt [enter Seattle coffee here] and started to taste like the fruity complex notes of a quality Ethiopian single-origin bean. My mind had opened wide to the possibilities of quality, delicious, black coffee.

I have so much more to learn and say about my coffee journey. I’m still learning and exploring. I hope that I can take more people on the ride with me. I once tasted a cup of coffee that I described like the droppings of a unicorn (in tribute to the famous Kopi luwak). I’m still looking for that cup of coffee again. If you find it let me know!