It’s hard to remember when I first started loving coffee. I’m sure it had to have been on those snowy days when my friends and I would skip school and head to a greasy diner to smoke cigarettes and drink bottomless cups of the stuff.
In my late teens I worked as a barista. My shift was the opening one, and I would show up to unlock the doors at 4:30 in the morning. I seriously loved everything to do with working at a coffee shop. I loved the smell of it. I loved listening to the sounds of the hoppers grinding beans and people steaming milk. I loved serving customers! I delighted in it. I even loved going home from work stinking of coffee (I was lucky if that happened, a lot of the time rolling out of bed to get to work at 4:30 meant that I would forget to wear deodorant).
I was so obsessed with coffee that I read everything I could about it. From the history of the drink, to the color of a ripe coffee berry, I wanted to know all about it. I quit my job when I enrolled in college, but I took my love of coffee with me.
I’m not really picky about my coffee though. I will drink it any which way. I love an egg nog latte like no one else can, and lately a cappuccino is my favorite treat. I like to take my drip coffee with cream. As I get older, thanks to my cranky stomach, the ratio of cream to coffee keeps going up.
Thanks too to my stomach, I can’t pour it into myself in the large and swift amounts I did when I was younger. Luckily I found these amazing small vintage mugs. I only use them for coffee, so it feels like a special treat when I drink my little 8 oz. of it.
It’s something that reminds me to enjoy the moment.
Taking time out from whatever I’m doing to sip from my pretty little cup of coffee is definitely a little moment of happiness.
