Okay, so I just started drinking coffee at the tender age of 41.
I can blame Poppinfresh for that, but that's not what this post is about.
It's about the best coffee ever made.
And before you 20 year coffee veterans start snickering to yourself about what an upstart coffee newbie can possibly know about coffee in less than a year, let me explain.
Well, first of all, let me propose my favorite coffee. It's Intelligensia's Zirikana, Rwanda.
And as my Father-in-Law says when he "borrows" my tools, "I'll tell you why..."
Well two reasons really:
Reason #1: Most coffee drinkers are poseurs. They really don't like coffee, they are just looking for a dessert drink like hot chocolate. They spoil the coffee flavors with milk, half and half, sugar, caramel, coffeemate, chocolate...you name it. A real coffee drinker drinks coffee black with nothing added. That's how I drink mine. I feel that to add anything to a cup of coffee takes away your right to provide commentary on coffee flavor. If you add anything, I'd argue that you really don't love coffee in the first place. I don't spoil my coffee with any additives whatsoever and can detect all the minimal nuances between the different brands/locations.
Which leads me to reason #2...
Reason #2: I have an extra sensory perception when it comes to coffee. Not can I only taste the different nuances and flavors between coffees, I can also taste the toils involved in harvesting the crop. I can taste the sweat and tears coming from the 12 year old boy who is forced to work 16 hours in the hot steaming sun picking the beans. I can taste his thirst as he works all day. I can taste the blood left on the beans from his raw hands stemming from his fingernails pulling away from his fingertips or his dried, cracked and brittle cuticles...
In some coffees, I can taste the death involved in the harvest in third world countries.
When I drink their coffee, the deaths and intense labor involved are celebrated, not ignored as it is by 99.8% other coffee drinkers in the world. I salute their efforts to provide me with such a wonderful product that I gladly pay $2.30 a cup for.
It kills me when I see others ruining thier coffee with what I consider "candy and/or whipped cream", as if somehow this cleanses the coffee's true origins and the hardship and pain involved in it's production.
When I see folks open their coffee lids at the "fixins" bar, I feel like that Indian who gets the McDonalds food thrown at my feet by thoughtless litterers.
A tear comes to my eye as I lament the forgotten fallen...as I raise my cup of java and pay my respect to my Rwandan/Nicaraguan/Guatemalan/etceteralan bretheren...
I can blame Poppinfresh for that, but that's not what this post is about.
It's about the best coffee ever made.
And before you 20 year coffee veterans start snickering to yourself about what an upstart coffee newbie can possibly know about coffee in less than a year, let me explain.
Well, first of all, let me propose my favorite coffee. It's Intelligensia's Zirikana, Rwanda.
And as my Father-in-Law says when he "borrows" my tools, "I'll tell you why..."
Well two reasons really:
Reason #1: Most coffee drinkers are poseurs. They really don't like coffee, they are just looking for a dessert drink like hot chocolate. They spoil the coffee flavors with milk, half and half, sugar, caramel, coffeemate, chocolate...you name it. A real coffee drinker drinks coffee black with nothing added. That's how I drink mine. I feel that to add anything to a cup of coffee takes away your right to provide commentary on coffee flavor. If you add anything, I'd argue that you really don't love coffee in the first place. I don't spoil my coffee with any additives whatsoever and can detect all the minimal nuances between the different brands/locations.
Which leads me to reason #2...
Reason #2: I have an extra sensory perception when it comes to coffee. Not can I only taste the different nuances and flavors between coffees, I can also taste the toils involved in harvesting the crop. I can taste the sweat and tears coming from the 12 year old boy who is forced to work 16 hours in the hot steaming sun picking the beans. I can taste his thirst as he works all day. I can taste the blood left on the beans from his raw hands stemming from his fingernails pulling away from his fingertips or his dried, cracked and brittle cuticles...
In some coffees, I can taste the death involved in the harvest in third world countries.
When I drink their coffee, the deaths and intense labor involved are celebrated, not ignored as it is by 99.8% other coffee drinkers in the world. I salute their efforts to provide me with such a wonderful product that I gladly pay $2.30 a cup for.
It kills me when I see others ruining thier coffee with what I consider "candy and/or whipped cream", as if somehow this cleanses the coffee's true origins and the hardship and pain involved in it's production.
When I see folks open their coffee lids at the "fixins" bar, I feel like that Indian who gets the McDonalds food thrown at my feet by thoughtless litterers.
A tear comes to my eye as I lament the forgotten fallen...as I raise my cup of java and pay my respect to my Rwandan/Nicaraguan/Guatemalan/etceteralan bretheren...
1 comment:
Maybe to sweeten your coffee you put in some cotton or opium. Maybe some tastey textiles. How about a hooker. Juan Valdez would be jealous.
Flave
Post a Comment