I'm sipping on a lovely dark roasted bean right now. I'm actually reminded of a similar bean I had back in 1986 from a small coffee shop out of Salem, Oregon. Strange how I remember this stuff after all the years I spent drinking my brain cells away! Anyway, coffee has been an important part of my life since I was a freshman in high school. The guy who taught special ed, and who oversaw the peer tutor program I was involved with, gave me my first sip of Sumatran coffee. Shortly after that, my best pal Paul discovered the Coffee Corner here in Eugene. Coffee Corner had it all! Beans from all over the globe and on occasion, they would get in Jamaican Blue Mountain @ 20 bucks a pound. Paul happened to live right across from the high school and for us skate-punk and weirdo types, his place was refuge from the daily harassment and bs high school throws one's way. We would usually brew up several cups, with the punk rock blaring, via the Melitta drip system before school and repeat at lunch. My favorite activity was walking back into school with a fresh cup and stinking up the halls with our wicked elixir. Sometime during those 4 years, Paul ended up with a stove-top espresso maker....we abused that drug pretty heavily....espresso was great for skating! By our senior year, good coffee had became part of our DNA! Upon my graduation from High School, I was given my first Krups espresso maker thus solidifying my addiction even more. I've gone through 3 of those machines since 1985 and one cheap knock-off that lasted only a few months. Cut to 2011.....I still enjoy the bean and get all excited about a great coffee discovery, like the stuff in my cup today. Maybe the only thing that has changed from my early coffee years is that I have been forced to consume mainly decaf due to health reasons. Sure, every now and then I toss a bit of caf'd bean into the mix, but decaf is the primary Joe in the cup.
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| The design that lives on my right arm..Niel Blender's coffee man! |
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