Coffee

A little internet search brought me to this info on the history of coffee:

Coffee grown worldwide can trace its heritage back centuries to the ancient coffee forests on the Ethiopian plateau. There, legend says the goat herder Kaldi first discovered the potential of these beloved beans. 

The story goes that that Kaldi discovered coffee after he noticed that after eating the berries from a certain tree, his goats became so energetic that they did not want to sleep at night. 

Kaldi reported his findings to the abbot of the local monastery, who made a drink with the berries and found that it kept him alert through the long hours of evening prayer. The abbot shared his discovery with the other monks at the monastery, and knowledge of the energizing berries began to spread.

As word moved east and coffee reached the Arabian peninsula, it began a journey which would bring these beans across the globe.

In retirement, I enjoy 2-3 cups of coffee every morning. Usually at home, brewed in my simple coffeemaker. I have not been a life long coffee drinker. In early adulthood, I never tried coffee and thus never developed a morning habit of drinking it. About 10 years ago, my family was on a cruise ship and I decided to try a cup with my morning breakfast. Through the cruise I began to drink it every morning and my coffee habit grew. 

My son has been a coffee drinker since late high school I think. He is into the different taste and varieties of coffee. He can make it numerous ways. Before hearing him talking about it, I had no clue there were various ways to brew coffee. Now I know a little about Pour Over, French Press, Cold Brew, etc. Who knew there were so many ways to make it. I let Mr. Coffee do his thing every morning. My son can take time to make a cup using beakers, filters and funnels. His coffee making looks like a lab experiment sometimes! But, I will admit, he makes a great cup of coffee this way!

I have a coffee grinder that my son gave to me. That is about as complicated as I get, grinding my own beans. If I visit a nice coffee shop and like their coffee, I will buy a bag of beans to enjoy over the next week or so. The different varieties confuse me with beans from different localities, different flavor notes, different roasts. My son can detect the notes better than me. Most of the time I just taste coffee, some I like better than others. I rarely detect a raspberry, milk chocolate, citrus note in a coffee. When I first saw the flavors on a bag of beans I asked my son, "Do they put raspberries with the beans when they roast or what?". He laughed and said "No Dad, you get that from roasting at various temperatures, humidity, etc.". Whew, too complicated for me, I just want to dump some ground coffee in Mr. Coffee and add water!

Coffee drinking can be routine, like a cup or two in the morning while you work. Coffee drinking can be social, like a cup at a local coffee shop with family or friends. Coffee drinking can be relaxing, like a cup at your favorite location with just you and your thoughts or a good book. 

My absolute favorite place to enjoy a cup of coffee is on a cruise ship. I like to get up early, grab a cup of coffee and sit on an open deck on the back of the ship and enjoy the coffee while looking out at the ocean and the wake of the ship. I love the sights and sounds of the ship waking up. There are workers cleaning rails and laying towels out on the deck chairs. Workers stacking coffee cups and other dishes making clinking sounds. There are very few other people out and it is about as peaceful as it gets on a cruise ship. My second favorite place is any coffee or breakfast shop in Portland, OR on a cool, rainy morning. No wonder they have 2500 coffee shops in that city!

I like trying new coffee shops. One of the most unique one was in Austin, TX. It was Civil Goat Coffee and it had a side door leading to a fenced yard with Butters the goat that you could pet. Another interesting one was Messenger Coffee in KC, MO that involved several levels and a rooftop area. 

How is your daily coffee experience? Where is your favorite spot to enjoy a cup?

"Coffee - the favorite drink of the civilized world." - Thomas Jefferson