Euphonywho

My life is very routinely structured, which is not a bad thing. Wake up, shower, get to work, make breakfast, then make coffee. Even my routine elements have routines. My shower is done the same way every day (shave, brush teeth, vitamin, shower, clothes, hair, done), my drive is the same, my routine is pretty static currently, and I like that. I’m a pretty meticulous person, so it fits me. One routine I enjoy the most is my coffee in the mornings. The way it smells, the way it looks when you make it, everything. It is incredible relaxing and satisfying.

I used to buy coffee in the mornings, not always at Starbucks but in any case someone was getting my money almost daily, and it was getting expensive. A medium coffee at Starbucks is $1.75, a large $1.85. I always paid the ten cents more. My sister asked me once why, and I explained, “it’s worth the ten cents for the coffee insurance. If I don’t need the extra, I’m only out a dime, but it’s nice to know it’s there. If I buy the smaller one, and need more, it’s almost impossible to get more”. Coffee insurance was cheap, only because the down payment was sufficient enough to cover it. $1.85 a day, let’s round that up to $2.00 because really, I just put the extra fifteen cents in my change jar and never thought about it again.

That’s $10 a week, $40 a month, or almost $500 a year. And that’s not even for the fancy coffee. Now, I spend maybe $120 a year a coffee, and that’s over-estimating. $6.99 a pound for whole-bean coffee, $3 every three weeks or so for creamer, and there you have it. Not only that, but I think my coffee tastes better, and as I said, the ritual is very relaxing, almost therapeutic.

You’re supposed to grind beans daily, according to the “experts”, but who really has time for that.  I can taste a difference by the time I get down to the end of my grounds, but it’s not unpleasant.  I was going to write up how I make my coffee, but this article at coffeegeek.com does a great job of explaining it.  Really, just experiment with your coffee, let it steep longer, shorter, try different beans, creamers.  If you’re happy with it, I can almost guarantee you won’t go back to buying coffee daily.

As long as you have access in the morning to a sink and a power outlet, I strongly recommend you at least try it out for a week or two.  At the least, your friends around you will thank you for the nice smells that will emanate from your coffee press.