Don't Warm Me Up: The Coffee Conundrum

I may not be a bean farmer in Indonesia or a bean roaster by trade, but I can (in my opinion) call myself a professional when it comes to the art of this magical berry. For five years of my life I lived coffee. My life and livelihood revolved around it. I began a coffee career at a Barnes and Noble cafe which through hard work, great people skills and luck I eventually worked my way into a high management position with a small coffee enterprise based in Virginia. While I am out of this profession now, I still hold high standards to my cup of brew. This concoction is what I refer to as my juice of life; as I call to Marc first thing in the morning begging him to make a pot! I can drink it black, but love milk and sugar far too much to deny it in my cup.

I have in my possession one of the best coffee makers around and while it needs a serious cleaning and deliming session; it is still a marvelous machine. It was not overly pricey but not cheap either. This is where I tend to be thrilled with products. When their cost does not out weigh their use and when they are expensive enough to actually perform the desired job without overheating or breaking. These products (especially kitchen gadgets) are hard to find, but when you find one you love...it WILL find a permanent home on you precious counter top.

This Bunn coffee maker is big, bulky and requires a lot of counter space but after you use it a few times going back to your old coffee maker will seem like a joke. Anyway, with the sad state of our house due to the painting of the kitchen and dining areas we have been forced to eat all of our meals out...or to sadly consume fast food on a small quarter of the coffee table.

Ahhh, my sad horrible little kitchen. I feel like someone with a hoarding problem. I am losing my mind, I can't find anything (like my gloves...and it's 15' outside) and worst of all my coffee maker is out of use. :(
This stuff all has a place...I SWEAR! Looks like a yard sale in my living room. Soooo not cool!

Even Sadie is getting lost in all of the stuff and giving me the look...MOM you really need to clean this place up!
But I LOVE the color and can't wait to get everything put back where it belongs so I can get in there and cook.


Back to the coffee...Today's blog came from Marc's amusement of my "coffee guarding". There are many options for breakfast in Smyrna, TN besides my kitchen...and with the current state of Lauren's Eatery we have traveled out in 20' temperatures to find our first days grub. Yesterday we tried out Mama's Country Cookin' a small hole in the wall dive diner that looks like a cross between an old southern widows home and a flea market. I will never understand why restaurants feel that they must cover their walls with old dusty antiques, but Mama's is not original in this thinking. Marc and I try not to eat at chain restaurants for many reasons, but the main one is that we like to support the "local guy". When our coffee and water arrive our ever so sweet and perky waitress continues to try to top off my cup. She is a simple country girl slightly lacking in social skills and poise, but I do not hold that against her. What I do find offensive is her need to repeatedly ask me every 2 minutes if I would like my coffee warmed up.
Fast forward to this morning. Marc and I journeyed to the well known chain Cracker Barrel in the hopes of different breakfast fare than the grease we had swallowed down at Mama's the day before. The food was superior and of course the walls were covered with the same dusty antiques placed there for ambiance. She was there too. Not the same girl from the day before but the same not matter age, race or state...the breakfast waitress. She too, in true fashion of the breakfast waitress, held my coffee cup as the only focus of her daily craft. The only reason for interaction with our table. Why? What is the draw of that coffee pot to my cup?
I know that this may seem a ridiculous rant, but I expect that all of my dear foodies out there will understand. First of all, I can not take things that are too high in temperature. If something is over 145' it will burn my taste buds off and the average temp for coffee is between 160' and 180'. This was the reason that I began using milk in the first place. So this time consuming need to make my coffee drinkable should not be ruined by the wait staffs eagerness to keep my cup full. Secondly the use of milk and equal ( I LOVE me some equal...even if it does cause cancer or whatever ailment) must be balanced just so! Add more coffee and I have to spend more time trying to figure out how much more milk and equal are now needed to make my coffee taste the way I like. This is breakfast, not a chemistry class. So dear breakfast waitress please do not view my hand over my cup guarding it against your pot as offensive. I just do not want a top off...I want to drink this cup and then have a new cup!

Do I spend my breakfast on the defense and have my conversation constantly interrupted by an eager coffee drone or do I simply allow the top off and spend my entire meal working on creating the perfect temperature, milk and equal level? This my loves...is a true coffee conundrum.

Anyone else have this problem?