Let's Talk Coffee

Or alternatively "How You Start A Fight with Coffee Nerds"

Coffee. That black gold that makes us the productive members of society that we are between the hours of 9 AM and 6 PM.

I love it. In fact, on most occasions, I have to have it. Perhaps that's just what I tell myself. However, I'm no master of the bean. My past has weaned me to appreciate the lesser forms of the art, much to the dissatisfaction of friends and associates.

First, let's examine my history with coffee.

I dabbled in school, but mind you this was at a military boarding school. We had our reasons for consuming coffee at such a young age. Can you imagine being 17, and then being in charge of a group of 15 year olds? That has to be some form of advanced unresearched child abuse.

Then there's the military. I don't think I need to elaborate on the myriad forms of abuse our bodies are subjected to, including the level of caffeine consumption. While low-grade energy drinks occupy a percentage of this, instant and store-brand brews were the go-to.

Often, the consumption of instant coffee was unassisted by hot, or any, water. Eaten as if it were some bitter and sad candy, it was more a means to an end. Ground coffee was not safe from this mistreatment. Shoved unceremoniously into the gap between the lip and the gums as if it were some unsettling wad of chewing tobacco in a laborers sunburned mouth, this provided again, a means to an end.

The limited times we drank our coffee was just the water-added version of the aforementioned processes.

Leaving the military should have opened and broadened my coffee horizons. It did not.

Like a hermit shying from the bright light of the sun, I retreated back to my primitive origins.

Working in an office, I began to appreciate the finer brews people would supply us with. In fact, at one point, a client of ours who was a professional coffee roaster, provided us with bags of their experimental roasts. This was a game changer.

Now fast forward to now. While I still get my morning rush from instant goodness, I have also practiced the art of Turkish coffee.

Turkish coffee is my favorite coffee. Here, it's a popular form that can be found almost everywhere. The thickness (THICC!) of the coffee, along with the gritty grounds, brings me a hybrid joy. The combination of a high quality artful coffee experience, and the gritty chewing of coffee that takes me back to simpler (tougher) times.

Tell me what you think. Coffee is one of those things that I'm always interested to know what people know and tricks of the trade.