Java Blues

Coffee, coffee, coffee…if you work in an office, as I do, where the coffee aroma reminds you of the last time your home had a sewer back-up, and tastes even worse, you may find yourself the recipient of odd looks when you mention, as you dash out the door, that you’re running across the street for some coffee.  I know my co-workers think I’m nuts.  “But it’s only ten cents HERE!”

Uh huh.  There’s a reason why it’s only ten cents, folks. 

My mother used to drink coffee by the gallon. Seriously.  She’d drink it all day and sometimes in the middle of the night, when she was older and a bit of an insomniac.  She could drink it that way because she made it incredibly weak.  I used to tease her that her coffee was the color of watered-down wine (and various other euphemisms not fit to print).

I’ll never forget the first time she had coffee at my house, back when I was grinding it myself and after I’d read you should make it strong to get the full flavor, and then dilute it in the cup, after brewing, with water or milk.  I tried to warn her it was strong, but, well, she didn’t listen, and, well, “wired” doesn’t begin to describe the mania that ensued, after drinking my coffee the way she drank hers.  She cleaned my kitchen, washed the dishes, worked in the garden, cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed, and then crashed. I made a point after that to always make her a big pot of coffee when she visited.

Mom liked my coffee, but she never adopted my way of making it.  That was probably a wise decision on her part.

With the arrival of children in my life, of course, and with time suddenly being a great luxury, I resumed buying already ground coffee, and over the years I’ve tried different flavors and roasts.  I went through a French roast period for a while, and then there was a half-decaf period when I was getting heart palpitations and my doctor said:  Lay off the caffeine!

Nowadays, I tend to stick to a hazelnut flavor, cream, no sugar, made at home in the mornings (one tablespoon of coffee per four ounces of water), or purchased at St. Louis Bread Company on Manchester in Kirkwood.  BreadCo, as we natives call it, has the best hazelnut around and in fact there was a time back in the early 90s when they discontinued it for a while only to bring it back due to popular demand.  This was before the Internet, back in the Stone Age, when you had to make your complaints in person.  So basically all of us young mothers trying to stay awake after all-nighters with screaming babies just yelled at the managers. Whaddya mean you don’t have hazelnut? Are you crazy?!  I NEEEEEED my coffee.  (You know you’re a native St. Louisan when you have these kinds of stories.)

My friend Laurie picks up an occasional Vienna Roast at QuickTrip, with a shot of vanilla cream steamer. My daughter likes Starbuck’s “skinny” vanilla latte.  My friend Al has this great espresso machine and steams his own milk at home for lattes.  What’s  your favorite way to enjoy your morning (or afternoon, or middle-of-the-night) cuppa joe?  Do you have a favorite place?  Or maybe a favorite bean?   Do you have a good way to get a good cup without breaking the bank?  Inquiring minds want to KNOW…so leave a comment, share a thought, tell your coffee story, right here!  It’ll help keep you awake between cups.