Morning Coffee

I made a pot of coffee this morning.  

Of course, there is nothing really remarkable about making a pot of coffee except that I haven't actually made a pot, even a small, half-pot, in a long time.  I drink coffee.  I like drinking coffee.  But for a long time I would make a half-pot or so, and usually end up throwing part of it away.  Then I realized, that I actually missed having someone to talk to while I drank my coffee.  When I visit my mom, we will sit and drink coffee and chat.  Even when George and I were both working, we would take the time to share a cup of coffee and a brief conversation about the day ahead before heading out into the hectic world.  

So I stopped making a pot of coffee and started having espresso in the morning.  I have one of those Nespresso pod espresso machines, and have been enjoying an afternoon espresso or two for years.  An espresso in the morning with breakfast, while reading the papers, even when I am at my desk, is fine, and I'll often have several cups. And yet, if I made a pot, it would be thrown away.

So I wondered if it was just a question of volume, if a whole pot seemed daunting, but the idea of making a cup was easier.  It does take me longer to go through a couple of cups of coffee, and even in an insulated carafe, the coffee gets stale and is not as enjoyable.   So I tried a couple of those smaller coffee makers, the ones that make 4-6 cups, but none of them make coffee as good as my Technivorm does, and they all were purchased, used a couple of times, and donated.  I'll drink less than stellar coffee when I am out, but don't want to make it at home.

So, on mornings I had to be out early, I would have an espresso at home, and pick up a cup of coffee at class, or wherever I was.  And this almost worked except that I discovered, over time, that most other coffee didn't really sit well.  It isn't that I buy particularly good or fancy coffee, but I do drink, almost exclusively, dark roast coffees at home.  The only non-dark roast coffee in my house is decaf.  I don't drink decaf and I don't drink light to medium roasts, so if you want one or the other, that is what you get.    

Dark roast coffees are lower in caffeine than lighter roasts, but it is not the caffeine that bothers me; I drink enough of it I should know, and I can drink a lot of caffeine in other forms without getting either jittery or staying awake at night.  Dark roast coffee is also far lower in acid than lighter roasts however, and there is evidence that lighter roast coffees cause more stomach-acid issues than darker roasts, which is a shame, considering how trendy light roasts are at the moment.  There is also some thought, not rigorously confirmed, that the actual roasting process may also produce some stomach-calming chemicals, and that the darker the roast, the more of these chemicals are present, although the decaffination process removes them again.  In my personal experience, it really has nothing to do with the caffeine, but the roast. I do know that when I drink lighter roast coffee I have more acid-stomach issues, and I am growing tired of it.  An occasional cup of coffee is one thing, but I can't make grabbing a cup of coffee on the road a daily habit unless I go to one of the coffee shops that makes a good cup of dark roast.

Which led me to start thinking about one of those single-cup brewing systems.  They make pods for dark roast coffees, even pods for some of my favorites.  Perhaps I should invest in one of those and put the drip pot away and bring out only when I have company. But I question whether the coffee is as good as what I can already make, and single-cup system are more expensive mistakes than simple drip coffee makers. I also realized that a single-cup system would be good if I was out early every morning and I wanted a cup before leaving, or a mug for the road.  But I am not out early every morning and I would just make multiple single-cup servings.  Why not make a pot?

So today seemed like a good time to start; as it is raining and expected to rain most of they day.  It is a good coffee day.  So I made a half-pot which is about 2 large mugs.  I am just finishing the second mug and I think I will make another pot.  Maybe I'll start making a pot of coffee more often;  I think I am ready for that.  Perhaps I should dig out my old travel mug while I'm puttering about the house today.  

Perhaps I just needed time to settle into my new life.