Perfect Cup of Coffee
Before Starbucks was located on practically every street corner in America, the coffee vending machine was the modern and automated way to get a quick cup of coffee and then speed on your way (no tipping required). They were usually located right next to the candy and soda vending machines in places like interstate rest-stops, cafeterias and hospitals. My dad used to love these machines and was always on the lookout for one when he was traveling. As a child I was fascinated watching the little paper cup drop down from inside the machine, then a squirt of milk hit the cup followed by hot, steaming black liquid. Most machines also had a hot chocolate option, which was my beverage of choice at the time. But these machines had two main problems which the engineers never addressed.
Problem #1: Every once in a while when you put your coins in, you’d hear a click and no paper cup would drop. This was soon followed by the squirt of milk and hot coffee dispensed right down the little drain. I liked watching that happen, but my Dad never saw the humor in it.
Problem #2: It was the worst tasting coffee in the world!
I would place the commercial vending machine at the bottom of the quality coffee brewing method list. Ever since those early days on the I-95 I have been in search of “The Perfect Cup of Coffee.” Options included instant coffee, electric percolator, back woods percolator, electric drip, french press, espresso machine and pour-over; all in search of the perfect brew.
I have one of my favorite coffee cans on the altar this morning; a vintage Maxwell House “Good To The Last Drop” coffee can, back when a one pound can of coffee actually held one pound of coffee! And I have my latest brewing method apparatus, a Yama glass coffee siphon using technology popular in the 19th century; vacuum-brewed coffee. Jack Nicholson used one of these in the movie “The Bucket List” that came out a couple of years ago. Watch the movie again and Jack does a good job showing how the siphon works.
It all comes down to finding the right bean and the right brewing method.It also comes down to finding the right coffee mug.When I want to make the “Perfect Cup of Coffee,” I pull out this mug…
(Pull out the mug and show the group)
THE PERFECT CUP OF COFFEE by the A.H. Perfect Coffee Company
With this mug, the coffee is perfect every time.When I tell someone I’m going to make them the perfect cup of coffee, they have a lot of questions for me while I’m making it (and I’m sure they have their own opinion) but when I hand it to them, they take one look at the mug and that puts an end to the discussion. They get it.
In life, it may take us a while to realize that our life, right now, just the way it is is perfect in the sense that it is what it is, in this moment in time. In this perfect, eternal moment I am this or I am that and so are you and so is the coffee. And everything is just this. Life is amazing and wonderful just as it is, even if it’s difficult, even if it’s unfair, even if the wrong political candidate wins the election, even if the coffee could have been brewed just a bit longer…
The perfect cup of coffee.
Life is a sharing of what we value and what we love. For me, as a self-described “coffee-bum,” some variation of coffee is going to be involved and extended conversation about coffee.
Life is too short to drink lousy coffee.
Life is too short to complain about how it’s going or not going according to our liking.
Life is too short to waste a moment of it.
Life is too short to live at a distance from our fellow traveller on this speeding cosmic ball.As this world and the cosmos continues to spin and expand and evolve,may each of us continue to pursue our vision and aim for a significant existence in this fleeting instant of eternal being.
I can drink to that.
Dave