I could be a coffee whore for enough money

I started drinking coffee around 16 and it took me a few years before I became a full blown coffee drinker. There was a time I could drink coffee all day long and still go to sleep after a cup. Even better, coffee had the opposite affect on me towards the end of the day: I got tired because of how much I drank.

During the years of drinking coffee, I've worked in two different shops. I've seen the gamut of afficianados to those who think cappuccino from a package is prime drinking. I enjoyed both experiences tremendously because of the customers and who I worked with, not necessarily for. Many a times a regular would come in order a drink and they'd get something else because I knew they didn't want their drink. I got away with this because of the barista/bartender relationship.

Or we had our regulars who drove us batshit crazy with their conversations until one figured out they were joshing us all along. Mr. K was one such customer. He always showed up around 9am for his morning coffee and stayed a good hour for conversation. His family joined him around a year later from Russia and he'd bring them in with them. There was another customer, Rudy, who'd come in during the afternoon. An older gentleman with the tattoo on his arm. I never asked him about his experiences but he knew I was aware of his tattoo and what it meant. The closest he came to acknowledging his past was in fessing up being a translator of german. He had a client who wanted something yesterday and couldn't understand why a 25 page report would take a bit for translation.

I've never claimed to be knowledgeable on coffee. I've done enough reading, drink making, bean buying to know my likes and dislikes. During the past several years things have changed in the coffee world, becoming more chi-chi. I have issues with certain companies in how they make their drinks or machines they used. This is the one snobbish area I embrace. I learned how to brew espresso on a piston machine. I was responsible for the taste of the espresso I poured, for the amount of crema on top, not a machine. Having people acknowledge this on a hectic day made everything all right.

Apparently a normal coffee maker is too pedestrian because this is now available for a slight dent in one's wallet: http://www.slate.com/id/2185655/

Personally, I think we should experiment with pedestrian coffee and see if we can wring out the olive notes from a can of Maxwell House or Folger's.