I woke up at 4 am this morning and I could not grind any beans for fear of waking the family. I was hoping to hold out but I could not so I made a cup of Maxwell House grounds dumped in a mug with water, microwaved, and filtered in the french press. It was not what I would consider good - but hey! It was coffee.This morning's cup reminded me of one of my favorite memories of coffee. Years back (before kids) my wife and I camped on Lake Huron. Again, I woke up at 4 am or so and I decided to go sit on the beach and wait for the sun to rise. My wife came with me so we grabbed blankets, the backpack burner, coffee kettle, grounds, and water. We laid our blanket out on a piece of beach and looked at the stars while we watched the morning freighters silently float by. I filled the screened basket with the cheapest grounds that I could find at Wal-Mart at the time (I had yet to learn how to be a coffee snob), filled the pot with water from my canteen, then I started the coffee to percolating. It took about 20 minutes for coffee to brew and then I poured a cup for myself into my Army issue canteen cup.
I really am not sure what it tasted like (though I do remember chewing some grounds) but sitting on the Lake Huron beach, under the stars, watching the freighters, it really did not matter what the coffee tasted like. To be honest, I could have been drinking some warmed fruity girls' tea and I think I would have enjoyed the experience. But, then again, it was a great experience and I am really glad that it is a bad cup of coffee that triggers that memory for me now.
Red 
Yellow 
1 comment:
We still distinctly remember the visit to my parents' house when The Girl spent the night throwing up. And the visit when The Boy would not stop crying and go to sleep so we had to drive three hours home at 11 p.m. So, yes, I think it's sometimes the icky stuff (coffee, barf, inconsolable crying) that memories are made of. ;-)
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