What a wonderful drink.
Picture this: It is very early morning. The sleepy sun is just beginning to peek his radiant head out from under his covers of a horizon. Your mind is fighting to keep you in dreamland while your body is trying to get you out from your warm cocoon. Then you catch a wiff of that wonderfully intoxicating aroma from the kitchen. It wafts its way down the hall and into your zombie-like proximity. The very smell is like an a C9H13NO3 (epinephrine) shot to your cobweb brain. The very taste brings a satisfied smile to your face and the C8H10N4O2 (caffeine) is enough to kill a herd of elk but your body has become accustomed to it. The stimulant kickstarts your body and just like that you are ready to take on the day.
I am sure that pretty much all of you have experienced the wonderful effects of coffee but that isn't what I want to focus on. Instead let's talk about the taste. There are no substitutions for this amazing bean-based drink. Java is totally an acquired taste but it is a fine line between aficionado and addict. I like coffee with the rest of them, but I don't crave it all the time. Instead, I like to enjoy my cup of coffee instead of relying on it. For example: Gloria Jean's Coffee... I am pretty sure that it actually is an industrial paint stripper. Even Starbucks coffee isn't that good... it really is just the name (a perfect example of branding well done). Instead, I go for the coffee that has the rich flavor without the esophagus melting aftertaste. There is nothing better than savoring a hot cup of coffee with dessert or early in the morning.
What about the social aspects of coffee? Ah yes, how could I forget. When you go out with a group of friends it is great to go find a coffee house with tons of character. In every new town I go to I often search out the local coffee "watering hole". Each establishment has their own flare and brews to go with it. When I was in Phoenixville visiting my brother he took me to this wonderful coffee bar with laid back clientele and barristas. The thing that bugs me about coffee, though, is the fact that younger and younger kids are starting to drink it. It used to be an unofficial "right of passage" into adulthood or at least college years. Now you can go to a coffee house in the morning and see the yoga moms with their cup and their 20-month-old sucking on their bottle full of a grande double shot caramel americano. I truly don't believe that kids that young appreciate the coffee. How many times have you been out and witnessed 13-year-old kids ordering drinks with extra shots? Come on. It's obviously more for the appeal and that the prepubescent teens are searching for a way to feel older. Let me tell you, if you are 12 and you need a shot in the dark (brewed coffee with a shot of espresso) to get going in the morning you are in trouble.
But back to the positive side: It feels great to just sit around an open-air patio with a group of friends, coffee in hand, and shoot the breeze knowing that you have nothing to do and nowhere to be.Final Verdict: Get out and pick up a cup but take the time to enjoy it. That's how we roll with it here in Western PA. This is Gmack signing off. You stay sylphlike society.
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8 comments:
I totally agree, dude--there's nothing like good coffee. I do like to melt my esophagus, and I have to disagree with you about Starbucks--their coffee is not only ubiquitous, but it's also good.
"ther's a fine line between aficionado and addict."
Need the two be mutually exclusive? My addiction and drive to down a cup of coffee might lead to the battering of my palate with enough Joe to be able to discern good brews from bad! Addicts may actually be the best Arabica aficionadoes if they don't let their addiction devolve into a craving for Country Fair coffee...woof. But nevertheless, I think addicts can be aficionadoes and vice versa.
Also I do have to disagree about Starbucks. If you're in for a straight up cup of coffee taken black, it'll be the best bang for your buck of any franchized coffee. For a truly superb experience, I might recommend Mayorga coffee, as well as the Cinco Vegas (5 Vegas is how it looks) espresso roast. Is it any cooincidence that these bold beauties are the bi-product of tobacco plantations which hold the coffee's namesake? I think not!
DRINK!!
I determine addict as one who drinks coffee for the sake of caffeine not taste. For example: someone who gets coffee and then puts some ice in it so as to be able to drink it as quickly as possible and then down the whole thing within a matter of a minute. Or just getting several shots of espresso just because. Oh, and Starbucks coffee still sucks. The acidity level is too high in the coffee to allow for a smooth aftertaste.
One word: Gevalia.
And, if you want to go for socially responsible coffee, come down to the 'Ville and buy some Righteous Bean, fair trade organic coffee. I recommend the Ethiopian Yergacheff.
You feel the same way about coffee as I do about bourbon… best part of wakin’ up!
This is by far my favorite post of yours ever. The chemical components at the beginning were hilarious. But I completely disagree about Starbucks - it all depends on which roast you get, and some of them are simply amazing.
On a more depressing note, it's also the only progressive coffee shop to charge $6 an hour for wifi, which is damn near piracy.
To conclude, I'd rather go a month without coffee than have to face j. morgan on any given day without his morning shot of jeager.
My word! You people certainly stick up for Starbucks. Basically you are all brainwashed by their expert branding and marketing. After all, they do sell 4 million cups of coffee a day. Sweet honeysuckle profits Batman! Seeing as how it only takes 3 cents to make a cup of coffee (including the cup) and 35 cents to make the more complicated drinks I am assuming they do quite well.
Oh and Redhurt, thanks. (by the way, those are the real chemical compounds)
Amen, gmack. Starbucks sucks. The coffee is not only too acidic, but their beans are often burned. My favorite is Kansas City Dark from the Roasterie. Heaven in a cup. - Michelle
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