August 5, 2016 (Friday)
I just had a cup of coffee. Not just any old coffee, mind you, but Hawaiian coffee. And not just any old Hawaiian coffee, because this time I ground the beans. Freshly ground beans and very hot water. M-m-m good.
It was good to the last drop. Remember that slogan? That was Maxwell House Coffee–“good to the last drop.” Growing up in Houston, I regularly drove by the Maxwell House production facility on Harrisburg Boulevard. (The plant sold to another coffee company in 2006.) When you were in the vicinity, you began to smell the coffee blocks away. M-m-m, what a nice aroma.
I don’t drink Maxwell House anymore. Years ago I switched to Folgers. For years we made it in a metal percolator. Or a dripolater (Not made anymore). Then we got a Corning Ware percolator. Oh, the coffee tasted good when we used it. When I was a kid, I bought my grandmother a glass percolator at Woolworth. She was so proud of it. She used it the rest of her life. As I recall, it was all glass. She said it made great coffee.
After a while, Mr. Coffee came out with their system of freshly brewed coffee, making from 4 to 12 cups at a time. And was it ever good. Mr. Coffee swept the market. Of course, other manufacturers came up with similar products, but it seemed to me they were all reproductions of the original.
Somewhere along the way, instant coffee made the scene, and as the years went by, it got better. Some folks never learned to like it, but I took to it for several years. Easy to make. But after a while, my taste buds turned on me and demanded to know where the Mr. Coffee was.
A few years ago, I discovered Starbucks. Not the pricey specialties at the coffee shops, but the packaged variety at the stores. For a long time, I used only the beans. But I tried the ground variety once and I liked it, so I switched. Now I usually buy the ground, but every once in a while I get the beans, just because.
When I get up in the morning, I want my coffee. One mug usually does it for me, but since my little coffee maker makes two mugs (the indicator on the carafe says 4 cups), I reserve the second mug for the afternoon. I never followed that schedule before retirement, but now that I have no schedule for afternoons, I schedule a cup of coffee daily. I like it. It perks me up, or so I think.
I rarely drink coffee after 4 p.m., because it seems to keep me awake at night if I drink it later. But that may all be in my mind, because when I settle down in my easy chair in the afternoon and drink that coffee, I find myself taking a nap.
Many times we will run into old friends and after chatting a few minutes we separate with the words, “Let’s have coffee sometime.” Good idea.
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COFFEE TIME
From the film “Yolanda And The Thief” (1945)
Coffee time, my dreamy friend, it’s coffee time
Let’s sing this silly little rhyme
And have a cup of coffee
Java time, my happy chum, let’s have a time
We’ll celebrate for just a dime (now $2.45) today.
And have a cup of coffee
Greetin’ time, the music box is beatin’ time
It’s good old-fashioned meetin’ time
We’re in the pink, so come and clink
And let’s drink a cup of coffee
Coffee time, my dreamy friend, it’s coffee time
Let’s sing this silly little rhyme
And have a cup of coffee
Coffee time, my dreamy friend it’s coffee time
Let’s sing this silly little rhyme
And have a cup of coffee
And have a cup of coffee
And have a cup of coffee