we have beans

 

now finally i have a forum to just come right out and admit.... we are coffee crazies! ahhh. there it is folks. we are a couple of 'those.' but not in a snobby way. no, we are just humble java lovers. the smell. the warm cup. the mood. mmmmm coffee.

some time ago we ventured into those early-day coffee houses, yes even the ones before starbucks. it was a neat scene, sometimes a little jittery, but the coffee was alive! there were fantastic drinks with loads of chocolate syrup, heavy cream, and frothy milk. the base of all those crazy drinks was something magical and fiesty, it was espresso.

espresso wasn't something we could make easily at home, at first. our regular coffee makers were not built to force water to marry with the bean under pressure. we started out small and purchased one of those mr. coffee espresso makers. actually i remember scott got me one as a gift, and it was the grandest gift of all the land. it was magical. it had power. it was our coffee shop for a good 10 years. many of those years it reigned so supreme that no other coffee 'maker' even existed in the same dwelling. yes, she was that good.

and then about a year ago a fascination started to develop. our old espresso maker was loosing steam fast, and there the internet was full of espresso maker reviews from other java junkies. you could tweak some machines to maximize their output. you could froth milk better, or optimize your crema when brewing espresso just by....... the information was out there. the timing was right. we upgraded our espresso maker and have never looked back.

so here we are, sipping our sweet espressos at home! we are versatile though, we can whip up the finest cup of tea or try to figure out any other 'hot' drink that might be the fancy! to keep costs down we have even experimented with roasting our own coffee beans. it isn't so hard really when there are cool websites out there to help with that too. can you believe that you can roast your own coffee in about 15 minutes at home much like making popcorn? somewhere i read that our greatgrandparents probably roasted coffee themselves or had someone in their neighborhood that roasted for them. maybe it is coming back in style? well even if it is not, it sure is all the rage at our house.

well i hope this post doesn't leave you feeling intimidated. i suppose that i have ranted on about something that you may or may not even like. let this post just give you the satisfaction that something as simple as drinking coffee every day can be the highlight of ones day. for you it may not be coffee, but certainly it would be grand for you to have that special something that you can take credit for. the special something that is purely yours to enjoy lavishly. it may even warm you throughout the craziest of crazy days!