A part of why I switched over from social media to a blog was that I was getting into pointless arguments over things I care about but most people don’t care about or understand on the level that I do– not to say that I am some expert on any particular thing, I just know a lot. When I care about something, I know a whole lot. One of my favorite delicacies in this world is coffee.
I was raised by a black coffee drinker, raised by a black coffee drinker. I found this out first-hand when I drove to Kentucky from Alaska to visit my Grandmommy, who drinks black coffee from morning to night, just like myself. Now my dad can’t drink it past noon, but that’s probably because whatever keeps him up at night is settled better with booze. (Wow on a 45 degree tangent, the birds outside are already singing. )
My first position working with coffee was as a barista in a cute little cafe in downtown Anchorage. It was owned and run by an energetic and kind woman and her husband. I quickly took to the espresso machine, learning that there is no “x” in that word, which means, “spur of the moment,” in Italian. I learned that espresso and drip have the same ratio of caffeine per ounce of beverage, but since espresso is finely ground and pulled with pressure, the shots hit the neurons faster than typical drip coffee. (You also burn out faster.) Eventually, I was able to perfect the heat and milk foam ratio with exactly correct shots so that I could pour beautiful art into each cup. The engineer in me even learned that Darcy’s law is what is used within espresso machines to be the vessel for the barista to complete this art.
Coffee is art. Coffee is science. Coffee is delicious and it is looked over every crack of dawn. People do not see it as this science nor recognize the intricacy of brewing the perfect cup. Starbucks aficionados are content with consistency with simplicity while that does not satisfy me — although they do brew pretty good drip coffee, imo. A regular coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts is with cream and sugar over ice. It’s bizarre to me. (Of course, the beauty of coffee starts from the growing and picking of the green beans, the roast and serving come much later in the process.) I just want to express my gratitude to this caffeine-filled legume, thank you, coffee.
bleached coral 