BAD COFFEE
Good morning! I hope your day is off to a great start, and that you are or already have enjoyed a cup of rich flavorful coffee. I, unfortunately, am not.
It is true--there is such thing as ‘bad coffee’. In fact, I’ve, on occasion, endured a cup just for the sake of cordiality, but today I just tossed it in the trash. I admit too that I’ve brewed my fair share. Nobody gets it right every time. Today, the hotel workers failed… big time!
Creamer, extra sugar, even flavored syrups aren’t effective coffee-repair kits. A truly bad cup of coffee is always a bad cup of coffee. It may be an almond cream cup of bad coffee, or a sweetened bad cup of coffee. At best it is a bad cup of flavored coffee.
When I spoil a pot of Folgers or JFG I am disappointed, but not very. However, when I spoil a pot of Honduran or Rwandan coffee I feel a little sick with disappointment. It isn’t so much that the foreign coffees are rare, but more that in how they were delivered.
My sons traveled to those countries and brought these coffees to me with their own hands. I didn’t purchase them, they were gifts from my sons. Though I certainly enjoy the smoothness of those coffees, it isn’t their taste that saddens my spirits when I spoil them—it is the loss of something special my sons brought me. So, when preparing them, I use special care.
Oh, I usually try to ‘doctor’ them with extra sugar, or hot water or something, but still, they’re ruined. Best thing to do is start over, which is what I usually do in the end. I grind another round of beans and brew a second batch, only more carefully. I try to learn from my mistake and avoid it the second time.
Ever brewed a bad day? Over cooked a relationship? Realized you’d spoiled things? Everybody has. Apologies help. Flowers and gifts may assuage anger. Resolutions are a right direction, but nothing actually takes away our failures. Best thing is to learn from them and start over.
Yet, some mistakes are bigger than others, just as some coffees are more special than others. If I break the company truck, that’s bad. If I loose the payroll deposit, that’s worse. But when I break my wife’s heart, or if I disrespect my child, that’s far worse. It’s the lose of something special. Relationships are special. Things can be replaced. Relationships, like hand delivered coffees, are gifts from distant places, and should be handled with special care.
Start fresh today. Go back to your special relations and begin to brew a fresh relationship with them. The reward is worth it. Smooth coffee and smooth relationships—take care to serve both.
All material copyrighted by Stephen Meeks
--Gourmet Thoughts for A Gourmet Day ** Fresh Brewed Here Every Monday-- Millions of us begin our day with coffee. For some its a necessity; for others a simple luxury. Which ever your case, I want to share it with you occasionally--not to intrude, but, hopefully to enhance by offering a thought, an idea, an insight, or a story. After all, what better way to begin a gourmet day than with a gourmet thought and hot coffee?
