A word on coffee

 I used to drink my coffee black 100% of the time, in the mornings before I left for school. The Christmas I was 15 my mother received an assortment of vacuum-sealed sample sized coffees in a gift exchange at work. We had an old drip coffeemaker at home but Lord knows when we had used it last. Nevertheless my dad made us coffee on Christmas morning (none for my mother) and so it began. Much has been written about ideal coffee brewing temperatures, methods, beans, and roasts and while I enjoy such discussions and the pursuit of coffee perfection, most days a girl just wants a good cup of coffee in her favorite mug with a touch of creamer, no sugar (that's to leave room for the morning cookie. Nothing tastes better with unsweetened coffee than a little sugar).

I have always felt that a person's coffee preference says something, if not about her character, than certainly about her personality.  A black coffee drinker can be friends with a nonfat mocha latte drinker, but there are some obvious differences there. Of course we all have our moments--I went through a nonfat sugar free cinnamon dolce latte phase before the introduction of the "skinny" order; but really, who wants to be the girl ordering a skinny vanilla latte? And forget about a dude ordering a skinny drink in the middle of the morning rush.  Congratulations to all of you secure enough to say that out loud in front of a line of strangers but whenever I do I feel the need to explain my order to the barista and/or the person behind me: "Something about the 2% milk is just too heavy for me.""I drink diet soda so I don't even notice the artificial sweetener." What I really want to say is: just because my drink is skinny doesn't mean I need to be, society and all you corporate marketing execs who decided to name my morning indulgence "skinny" so I'll feel a little less guilty for spending $4.50 on it. Hey, at least I earned a star for my purchase. 25 years old and still extremely motivated by virtual stickers. Now my standard order when I'm out is a soy misto with one pump of [syrup of choice]. No matter how slowly I say it I have to repeat myself at least once and, yes, I do feel like a diva when I order.

College was my french press phase, mostly because the coffee in the dining hall was pretty undrinkable hotel-coffee variety and my thrift store drip coffee maker just made me sad. No use putting expensive coffee in that thing.  Then I got married and one of the wonderful things about getting married is that you get a lot of presents, like the coffeemaker of my dreams from one of my bridesmaids.

It's the only coffeemaker I've found with a conical burr grinder (as opposed to a blade grinder, like those handheld versions that double as spice grinders), which preserves more of the beans' oils and hence their flavor. It also brews the coffee at the optimal temperature and time to extract just the right amount of flavor from the beans. Or at least that's what Amazon tells me and I am happy to believe the marketing in this case. It's a whole lot easier to clean than my french press and when I really have my act together I can program it to start the night before and wake up to the smell of coffee.

How do you take your morning coffee?