Coffee Jones

I think it was my grandma, Zora Clayton Stewart Bullock - aka Momo, who introduced me to coffee. She stayed with us a few times when I was young, and Mom and Dad were out of town. She drank coffee, just like Mom, but at breakfast time she encouraged me to try it. She added lots of milk and sugar. And instead of Cap'n Crunch I had toasted Wonder Bread, slathered in butter that I'd dip into the marvelous stuff. It was a fun and different treat for when Momo stayed with us!

My Mom enjoyed coffee too. Remember those perking coffee pots? We had one of those, like everyone did. They made interesting noises, but took forever to brew coffee. One time at our house, someone forgot to put the top on the pot, and it perked all the way up the the ceiling! I remember how funny I thought that was. Perk!

Then Mom when through her "Zen" age. She got a funky coffee press with a filter and a decanter that sat on the stove. It was all very complicated...I don't know if it tasted any better, but she thought she was very sophisticated! After a while though, she got tired of all the time the system took and went to a Mr. Coffee system.

I never became a big coffee drinker despite that yummy coffee, milk, sugar concoction. In college, roomie Vicki and I picked up some instant coffee for late-night studying. It was before the microwave days - so we still had to boil water! I remember when Vic and I took Zoology together - we stayed up so late before a test that we became "slap-happy". I still smile today when I hear some of those scientific words for the various secretions the body makes...oh how we laughed due to our sleep deprevation.

I really didn't start drinking coffee again until I got married. To a guy who has a real coffee jones. He can't help it - it's in his genes and background. The Goldsmiths are farmers. They drink coffee 24/7 if you let them. He amazes me - he can drink the stuff until midnight and still sleep fine. Me? I'd better not sniff it after noon or I'll be buzzed for hours. Sometimes I can get jittery from just one cup! Deb and I used to get coffee at True Value in Creston (yes, in that town the coffee place is in a hardware store - they can multi-task. It's good too) on Sundays. Then I'd lay awake for hours that night. I had to go to decaf!

In 1986 when moved to Creston, the home of Bunn-O-Matic. Since then, we have been spoiled by coffee brewed instantly. I know experts look down on this method, but we lived and worked with the Bunn-ites! I toured the factory, that is the largest employor in town, several times - their break area has all of the good beverage. I worked to help the company reduce waste and recycle more. A couple years ago, when we needed a new hot water pot at the Wallace Building, I reached out to my pal Jeanne Piel, who staffs for Bunn through her employer Manpower, to get a reconditioned unit. So I've still got connections!

Paul used to be strickly a Folgers guy. These days he has learned to grind his own beans (since we bought Starbucks beans by mistake one time - so I ended up purchasing a grinder) and we're mostly Starbucks people. Who knew it made such a difference, until we started buying better coffee? Thanks to Momo, I still need creamer or milk in my coffee.

Today since Pablo is down south hunting wabbits (turkeys really), I treated myself to Starbucks - not a frequent thing for me. But in my mind, it's no better than that milky coffee Momo made.

Weigh in. How did you first start drinking coffee?