Water
Flows over beans
Into me
Eyes awake
Coffee

I started drinking coffee in high school, and I haven’t looked back. I remember many, many mornings sitting with my Mom at the kitchen table, both of us reading the morning paper, chatting, and drinking coffee. I remember this as one of my favourite parts of the day.

Coffee at home in those days, was made in an electric coffee maker.  I remember many empty MJB coffee cans under the sink, used to collect cooking grease.

At school, I happily drank swill from a big industrial coffee urn, out of a styrofoam cup. I don’t remember particularly liking coffee back then, but it was something to accompany my morning cigarettes while standing outside the school doors, trying desperately to look cool and nonchalant.

After I graduated, my first real adult job was receptionist at Heritage Park in Calgary. There I sat at the front desk, drinking endless cups of coffee and smoking cigarettes, answering the phone, greeting visitors, and typing letters on my trusty IBM Selectric typewriter. I remember having an overflowing ashtray, and an endless supply of coffee brewed in the Bunn-O-Matic in the back room. I also remember forgetting to brew a fresh pot one afternoon and getting chewed out by one of the managers. I also got heck for wearing a typical 1980’s florescent pink blouse on the basis that it was not “professional clothing to wear in the office”. Who knew?

Today, I’ve become a coffee snob. I wouldn’t buy a can of MJB or Nabob. In days of yore, I drank the stuff non-stop until noon and it was really to pair with my cigarettes, so taste and aroma didn’t matter much (mainly because when smoking I had no sense of taste or smell). Now I limit myself to two or three cups of coffee a day, and the first two are consumed at home, and with the best, freshly roasted beans I can get my hands on.

If you remember, awhile ago I went on a trip to Golden. In that little mountain town is a roaster called  The Bean Bag Coffee Roasters. I’ve been buying their beans ever since. I’m particularly hooked on one called Mount 7 Mayhem, which is a very rich, dark roast.  There are several great roasters in Edmonton, however, even with shipping costs, the Bean Bag is more economical.

I support our local roasters by visiting them in person. Michael and I are particularly pleased to support Transcend Coffee most often, and at either location. These people are ape over coffee, and the quality and enthusiasm shows.  They also demonstrate that brewing coffee has come along way with their fancy Clover coffee brewer, yet on the shelves they sell the simple “Melitta-style” single-cup cone filter brew baskets (which I use at home).

Coffee has come a long way since the vacuum sealed bricks of coffee we used to buy, and I’m grateful for those people who continue to perfect the roasting and brewing of coffee.