Caffeine-d

I am a coffee snob. By that I mean I like my coffee a certain way; distribution method is just as important as the quality of the product.

There are many elements that go into the ultimate cup for me. First of all, there is the cup itself. If I am at home, there are only certain cups that I prefer to use - either because of the positive memory associated with the vessel, or its shape and volume. For example, my Fiesta ware coffee cups are too small and do not retain heat well, thus you have a small portion of cooled coffee. My oversized heart-shaped mug holds 2 cups of coffee and reminds me of the loved one who gave it to me.

Next, there is temperature. My favorite coffee shop serves it scalding hot in spite of the now-infamous McDonald's lawsuit. At home, the coffeemaker brews it hot, but then the cupful is cooled by the addition of refrigerated cream. To remedy this, I fill my cup with water and microwave it for 30 seconds, then pour out the water. Thus, I add hot coffee to a hot cup, effectively offsetting the chill of the half-n-half. When I do order coffee at my favorite shop, I usually take my iPod or a magazine with me to fiddle with while my coffee temp settles into that degree called: warm-up-my-mouth-without-burning-my-tongue. Maybe it will sound a bit better if I confess that I do NOT use any type of temperature measuring device.

Now, we arrive at the additives. There are plenty to choose from, but when I want a coffee, I want to savor the flavor of the beverage not eat dessert. Yes, I have had my share of frappacino's and lattes during a friendly gal-pal chat. But first thing in the morning, I need a consistent friend to revive my mind. So I take cream and sugar. Again, this order takes clarification. I mean, real cream aka half and half, not some soybean oil pretender or a watered down version of milk. Its a small indulgence, these calories and fat grams, but my morning outlook is the better for it.

When I said sugar, I meant the white devil derived from the cane. Sugar has gotten such a bad wrap lately, at times it is hard to find a single packet when dining out. Your choices are rainbow-rific: blue, pink or yellow packets, something with a green leaf on it, and then a brown [natural] version. I don't really know what sugar bleach looks like, but I think it can't be as bad for you as the chemical formulas of those "colored" substitutes. I don't each a lot of sweets, so when I have coffee, white sugar seems like a small, yet reasonable indulgence.

Now we get to the glorious brown liquid itself. My number one preference is Starbucks - either standing in a long time for a cup, or doing a home grind. Since my home coffeemaker is shared with my husband, he has his own preference: Eight O'clock brand. Which is definitively not Starbucks, but is still very acceptable and nowhere near my least favorite, Folgers. Blech! There is something else in that coffee brand besides beans, I think. Maybe buckwheat hulls or recycled cardboard boxes.

French, Espresso or Dark Roast fit my palate. I want coffee to be strong in flavor and strong in brew. I have also tried flavored coffees such as Pecan this or Tribecca blend that. But the flavor gets in the way of the coffee's ability to realign my neural pathways at dark-thirty.

I have not gotten so consumed with the "perfect" cup of coffee to have a preference for water, other than it needs to be clean and cool at the start of the process. I do know of other people who use only bottled water to brew their morning elixir, but I am not that compulsive. Yet.

The prescribed brew - I would call it "thick", as in cutting it with a knife. I certainly do not wish to be rudely greeted with seeing the bottom of the cup through my freshly-poured hot brown liquid. It is called coffee, not tea.

Someone once commented to me, as we stood mixing-and-stirring at the sidebar of Starbucks, that life is uncertain; your morning coffee is one of the few things you can control exactly to you taste. I agree: it is a cup full of warm sweet creamy goodness that helps you embrace the day knowing that you at least got one very important thing right.