The Coffee Ritual
T. Rivers
It seems that making coffee at home before going to work has become obsolete, now the habit of climbing into your vehicle and ‘willingly’ putting yourself in yet another line up, after all the bank, the grocery store and so many others are not enough-- no, no, we risk the morning traffic, with so many happy morning people (smiles- okay not!) and the smells of exhaust “on purpose!”
I smile really when some of my associates tell me that they do not have the time to make coffee in the morning anymore. I am thinking, no, the time apparently is better spent being aggravated going through a drive thru line up at the nearest coffee house, drinking out of a plastic coated cup that adds to the already over crowed landfills. (What a cute name for a ‘dump’ do you not think? Like calling it a land fill makes it less than what it is—but that is another story!)
Another time I was told that the mornings are too hectic with the kids, and they need five minutes of peace. Peace? Angry faces, horns honking, over worked under paid staff greeting everyone in a glass box, hand out-- grab your coffee, hand out-- take your money, words exchanged-- “have a nice day-next!” Personally I would take the screaming of the kids, the ones in whom you love, over the hollow exchange of a stranger any day!
My idea of a great coffee is brewing a pot; a blend I have chosen, in a real cup, and I make enough so that I can fill a travel mug to go. (Another inch of land saved from garbage. And make no mistake, no matter what they want you to believe with the great show of recycling bins in the store, they are not recyclable!) Than, I look outside and breathe in the weather, be it sun or snow, it is part of the cycle of life and I embrace it, through the window I watch-- is there a squirrel? A bird? I listen to the sounds of my home, be it grumblings, or laughter, those sounds belong to me, they are my family, and that fills my heart with love.
However, this ritual, for so many is replaced with; “hurry up.’ Hurry up and get me to a job I hate, hurry up and get me back home to chores I detest, hurry up to get me to the next item on the have-to-do today list- just hurry up. When did we lose the gift of loving the simple things in life? When did we choose to replace it with this tense cycle of frustration and misery?
I love the smell of coffee, the aroma lifting from the cup in your hands, or filling the house when it is brewing. I love to grind coffee beans, and the fresh scent hits you and you are now excited about tasting the coffee, will it be as great as it smells? That first taste, mmmm, yes it is as good.
When I drive by the coffee shops with the line ups sometimes out to the highway, I pick up my travel mug and smile. Sometimes simple pleasures are the best of life’s pleasures!
T. Rivers
It seems that making coffee at home before going to work has become obsolete, now the habit of climbing into your vehicle and ‘willingly’ putting yourself in yet another line up, after all the bank, the grocery store and so many others are not enough-- no, no, we risk the morning traffic, with so many happy morning people (smiles- okay not!) and the smells of exhaust “on purpose!”
I smile really when some of my associates tell me that they do not have the time to make coffee in the morning anymore. I am thinking, no, the time apparently is better spent being aggravated going through a drive thru line up at the nearest coffee house, drinking out of a plastic coated cup that adds to the already over crowed landfills. (What a cute name for a ‘dump’ do you not think? Like calling it a land fill makes it less than what it is—but that is another story!)
Another time I was told that the mornings are too hectic with the kids, and they need five minutes of peace. Peace? Angry faces, horns honking, over worked under paid staff greeting everyone in a glass box, hand out-- grab your coffee, hand out-- take your money, words exchanged-- “have a nice day-next!” Personally I would take the screaming of the kids, the ones in whom you love, over the hollow exchange of a stranger any day!
My idea of a great coffee is brewing a pot; a blend I have chosen, in a real cup, and I make enough so that I can fill a travel mug to go. (Another inch of land saved from garbage. And make no mistake, no matter what they want you to believe with the great show of recycling bins in the store, they are not recyclable!) Than, I look outside and breathe in the weather, be it sun or snow, it is part of the cycle of life and I embrace it, through the window I watch-- is there a squirrel? A bird? I listen to the sounds of my home, be it grumblings, or laughter, those sounds belong to me, they are my family, and that fills my heart with love.
However, this ritual, for so many is replaced with; “hurry up.’ Hurry up and get me to a job I hate, hurry up and get me back home to chores I detest, hurry up to get me to the next item on the have-to-do today list- just hurry up. When did we lose the gift of loving the simple things in life? When did we choose to replace it with this tense cycle of frustration and misery?
I love the smell of coffee, the aroma lifting from the cup in your hands, or filling the house when it is brewing. I love to grind coffee beans, and the fresh scent hits you and you are now excited about tasting the coffee, will it be as great as it smells? That first taste, mmmm, yes it is as good.
When I drive by the coffee shops with the line ups sometimes out to the highway, I pick up my travel mug and smile. Sometimes simple pleasures are the best of life’s pleasures!