Coffee Drinking

Posted Sun Aug 15, 2010 in Stories

I don’t think I ever told the story of my coffee drinking. Jim has an essay about coffee and he reminded me about my favorite hot beverage.

I grew up with coffee. My parents were both coffee-drinkers. About the time I was 12- or 13-years old, I started helping in the kitchen in the morning and would make coffee for my parents. But, I didn’t drink it.

The household coffeemaker was a double drip pot. The lower pot was used to boil water and the upper pot contained a grid to retain the grounds with a press-fit perforated cover to allow the boiling water to pass through the grounds to brew. I learned to charge the upper pot, boil water, and pour through over the sink, replacing the upper pot over the lower to allow the coffee to brew.

I was 15-years old, in high school, and I ran three newspaper routes. One morning I was making coffee for my folks when the perforated cover popped out, spewing some of the hot water onto my hands (over the sink). By reflex (bad thing), I dropped the pot and splashed myself with scalding-hot water. I got second-degree burns on my chest and arm. I was laid up for a week and it hurt like hell.

I was a lot more careful with the lid after recovering. I mean a lot more careful.

Shortly after that we moved from California to Missouri. I was busy with school and chores, and eventually a part-time job working for my dad and granddad. I didn’t make coffee as often as before. My parents also bought a Mr. Coffee sometime during that period of time.

When I was 19 I went to work at a general civil engineering firm. I was a technician and did a lot of field and office work — collecting field data, reducing it, and creating base drawings for the engineers to use. I spent a lot of days in the field during the cold part of the year. Coffee was hot and plentiful at the small diners and restaurants in the locations we worked, so I learned to drink it. Hot chocolate was expensive and too much sugar.

Eventually coffee became an element of my morning routine. Dad always put a little whole milk in his and I did that for awhile. But, eventually I found I preferred either black or with a little half & half in it. I still drink it that way. No sugar, a dose of half & half.

If I’m carrying my old Stanley Thermos bottle, it’s black. I put nothing but coffee in the thermos.

In fact, I think I’ll finish my coffee now. :)

Oh yeah… I don’t drink decaf or anything resembling it (knowingly)…