Lifeblood
So I have this issue with coffee. I love coffee. I love thinking about coffee, smelling coffee, reading about coffee, and drinking coffee. The problem with all this is, I am terrible at actually making coffee. I just cannot seem to get the ratio of water to coffee work out. You can try all you want to give me your formula, like my Aunt Nancy did (1 1/2 teaspoons of coffee for 2 cups of water) but I promise you it won’t be right. So I spend all this time thinking about how lovely a cup of coffee would be, I can taste it in my mouth and imagine its reviving power coursing through my veins, but then when I get up and make myself a cup, I am met with a foul liquid that tastes like crunched up garden mulch and sugar.
Jasmine does not make this any easier on me, as she has the ability to make amazingly good coffee with cinnamon and just the right composition of coffee, milk, and sugar. Sure sure, I could ask her to bring me a cup every morning, and she would maybe do it. But something in me feels bad about saying “Hey. I know you are all 9 months pregnant and about to have a human come crashing out between your legs, but would you mind driving over to my house with a steaming cup of joe? Mm’Kay thanks.”
Through my pregnancy I have had some relief from the cruel juxtaposition of my dreams about coffee and what I actually make at home. In the beginning I was all “Blahhhajchuir! Death liquid! The urine of Satan!” and then in the middle I was all “Mmmm…I just really love some tea. I am not a frail enough human to need coffee” but now I am 31 weeks along and find myself indeed a frail human who has an incredibly vicious want of the drink. The want is bad enough that I have been willing to drink the coffee I make and just pretend it is as good as I have dreamed.
This was all good and fine except that something like 20 minutes after the desire for coffee kicked in, Norah broke my coffee pot. Its my own fault really, because I am the dummy that lets her play inside the cabinet where my coffee pot lives. That was a little over a week ago, and I have been surviving on coffee from the cafe downtown, Jasmine’s house, an amazing cup of vanilla nut coffee from Atlanta Bread Company, and yesterday, some wretched tar from Sonic.
This morning Norah and I woke at a leisurely 9:30am, and after taking a shower, the coffee craving hit me. But I really didn’t want to drive to the cafe, nor did I want to pester Jasmine. So in a moment of desperation, I rigged my coffee pot to work again. I measured out some haphazard amount of grounds and used my Pyrex measuring cup to measure out some haphazard amount of water. Then I put the Pyrex where the pot should go and used a spoon to depress the thingy at the spout where the coffee comes out. I was rewarded with a half-decent cup of coffee.
There was much rejoicing in the land of Sadie. And I don’t really know why I felt compelled to tell this story, except to point out the fact that in the face of adversity I don’t just roll over and give up. No no! I am industrious and unconventional! I also have an unhealthy love of coffee.
Have a good day, friends.
That is some dedication… man, and it is a little bit pathetic.
Way to be inventive!
Good thing the Pyrex didnt explode. Dont think it is meant for direct heat. MacGyver would have done it though…so go for it chick.
Garrett,
In a rare moment of clear thinking, I turned the warmer off of the coffee pot because I had the same thought about the pyrex exploding. How unlike me…
Congratulations on the coffee accomplishment! I don’t do coffee–if I want it that bad, I buy it, because if I want it that bad, what I really want is a caffeine- and calorie-laden fancy coffee–but I have similar desires. I’ve recently tried my hand at cinnamon rolls. They weren’t exactly Cinnabon quality, but I wanted to call everyone I know and tell them that I made cinnamon rolls! From scratch! Few people appreciate our small victories.
I must recommend the metal coffee pot. After my father-in-law bashed through several carafes, we finally got a metal one (my husband and FIL are obsessive coffee drinkers). And it’s been joyous. No more worrying about cracked coffee pots or whether that last bang was going to result in it later exploding. I don’t know if you can just get a new carafe for your coffee maker, but the metal ones are worth their weight in gold–or at least in aluminum.