The Coffee Experience

"The best part of waking up is coffee in my cup."
Whether you are drinking Folgers, Starbucks, Illy or MadCap,
coffee offers an experience that is often the best part of my day.
(For the record, MadCap is my favorite of the lot mentioned.)

There are societies in this world where coffee serves as an integral part of the culture and is ceremonial in style.
In these cases, it's not about getting your caffeine fix. It's not about a 'venti' this or a 'skinny' that.
It's not about the best brands or coveted convenience.
There is something more. For me that something is sensory based.
 

the sound

As setting my coffee maker's auto-brew is just as important to me as setting my clock's alarm,
I wake to the sound of coffee being cultivated.
Hot water finding its way through fine grounds, audibly announcing its metamorphosis into coffee
with drips and drops into a hot pot. Music to my ears.

the smell

I believe I enjoy the smell of coffee even more than its taste.
Strong, sentimental aromatics tap into something I've never been able to taste - only smell.
Different coffees deliver different aromas that remind me of different places I've been & different people I've been with.

the taste

Like wine, it's slowly sipped. Like communion, it's carefully tipped.
And the taste tells a tale of a place and time from where the grounds grew when they were beans.
I imagine these places and times. I imagine being present there and then.
And then I stop imagining and become present here and now.

- Allie Merrick