Coffee Conundrum

Confession Time: I just learned how to make coffee. Like, three weeks ago.

If you've ever had coffee at my house before it's because Steve made it or I called him on the phone to walk me through the process and then promptly forgot again.

I came to coffee drinking late, how this is even possible I don't know. My parents are big coffee drinkers and I've always loved the smell. My school in Kenya sat smack dab in the middle of coffee fields. Also, I had an 8am science class or lab EVERY SINGLE DAY of EVERY SEMESTER OF COLLEGE for FOUR YEARS! And not a drop of caffeine in the mornings (not much soda drinking either, I was on a budget). It's a wonder I graduated, really.

So, why no making of the coffee for me? Two reasons.

1: I really like lattes. I'm willing to pay money for a latte as a special treat but haven't felt the need to have them every day. But I am also cheap...
2: FEAR.

Fear. Yes, fear of actually making coffee and making it WRONG! You see, we live in coffee country. Home of Starbucks (before they got the automatic grinders for their espresso shots and took the final step into coffee travesty) and the millions of little independent coffee shops that can pull a shot of espresso that will make you weep with thankful joy.

This brings a lot of pressure. What if I made the coffee and it was no good? What if I had a guest over and served bad coffee? What if I made bad coffee and drank it anyway, because I don't want to waste the beans that I paid good money for and just ground and inhaled their delicious fragrance as if it could enter my blood stream just by smell alone, and then got so used to bad coffee that I permanently disabled my taste buds and could no longer distinguish good coffee from bad?

The risks have been great. But, with two small children bouncing out of bed with energy to burn each morning (how do they do that? There's no quiet transition period, it's full sleep to full wakefulness in 0.4 seconds!) I finally caved.

I think I might be a little more jittery lately...that's a sign of a well made pot, right?