I didn’t use to be a coffee drinker. When I was in my 20s and 30s, my caffeine of choice was carbonated. Specifically, Pepsi. Not even Diet Pepsi, but straight sugared Pepsi. I didn’t even notice when they started switching to high fructose corn syrup; obviously I didn’t much care what was in my food. I also weighed upwards of 230-240 lbs and was what one could calll “not active”.
I knew coffee had more caffeine in it; it was a higher dose. But considering the immense amount of soda I was drinking in a day, I’m sure I was getting just as much, if not more.
I would, occasionally, drink coffee. I remember one time, when I was working at Powell’s, I had stayed up all night with a lady friend (not doing what you’re thinking; I was the platonic friend to whom she confessed her secrets) and had to go in to work the next day. My first stop was the Anne Hughes Coffee Shop, where I ordered a medium cup of coffee, doctored it with cream and sugar, and downed it as quickly as possible to enable me to make it through my shift. It only served to make me not just tired, but jittery as well. Being a Powell’s employee, I’m sure the customers never even noticed I was even more irritable than any other time. That must have been in late ‘91.
A few years later, I was in Cupertino visiting a lady (not doing what you’re thinking; I was the platonic friend to whom she confessed her secrets (sense a pattern, there?)) and she introduced me to the latest craze: a chain of coffee shops called Starbucks. Having been a book snob in my past (see previous paragraph) I was a tad offended by the name but the coffee was pretty good. I got a raspberry mocha, even though I wasn’t a coffee drinker, even though I had told this woman that, Oh, sure, I drink coffee all the time. Because even then, Portland was known as a book reading, micro-brew beer and coffee-drinking town, and I was living up to the stereotype. I was being dishonest about who I am; it’s no wonder I didn’t hit it off with that lady, huh?
About 10 years ago, though, I started exercising and watching my weight, and, braving the effects of the dreaded “aftertaste” of diet drinks, switched to low-calorie drinks. And about the same time, I started drinking coffee, because I could get the same caffeine hit with fewer calories than a full non-diet soda. I wasn’t yet a coffee snob, though.
No, it wasn’t until about 2-3 years ago, when I started making my coffee at home instead of buying it pre-made at Twin Paradox, the shop down the street, that I started to really care about how it’s made and what beans I use. Jesse, the barista I think of as my “coffee guy”, took the time to educate me a bit on beans and how they’re processed and ground, and how to care for them (as low humidity as I can manage; humidity kills flavor), and got me to try a bunch of different roasts to narrow down the flavor I like.
My current special blend is from Portland Roasting Co. and is mixed from half of their Teramo, which is an espresso blend (dark roast, more carbon-y flavor, but less caffeine) and their decaf espresso blend (they use the Swiss water decaf process to preserve flavor), to give me a half-caf coffee I can brew at home.
And that’s what I’m drinking right now.
I have an automatic drip brew coffee maker, but I never set it up with water and grounds the night before. Jesse said humidity kills the flavor, right? So sitting in that container with all that water is going to make a flat tasting coffee. Every morning I carefully measure the water (filtered) and grounds (kept in a sealed container in my cupboard) into the reservoir and filter respectively. It is literally the first thing I do in the morning, before anything else. Once it’s brewing, I can go take care of my other morning ablutions, leaving me time to sit and eat some breakfast and drink my coffee and read up on what I’d missed on the internet the night before.
I have a French press that I can use as an emergency coffee maker; it’s a gift from my best friend, Tracy. But I have sadly found I don’t use it much, because the grind for use in a French press is coarser than the one you use in a filtered drip coffee machine. If I had my own grinder, so I could just buy the beans and grind it myself, I could switch back and forth depending on my mood. Why do new ideas often mean I need a new toy?
Did I mention I’m drinking coffee right now? I’m almost late for work at this point because I’m rambling and writing. That’s the effect of the caffeine, I’m sure.
C is, apparently, for coffee.
