The Daily Grind

The other day, I finally broke open a bag of Craft Coffee's "Into the Black," a blend of Latin American, African, and Indonesian beans. It was a gift from my friend Jeff, who'd visited me in New Jersey back in September. So why did it take me over four months to open it? Well, because the bag contains whole beans. And if you're thinking that maybe I don't have a coffee grinder, you'd be wrong. I do have a coffee grinder. I'm just lazy. Every morning I'd scoop my ground Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee into my Cuisinart, telling myself that maybe tomorrow, I'll get out the grinder and try Jeff's coffee.

"Tomorrow" happened this past weekend, and I have to thank Jeff for the really good coffee that I am now enjoying. Note to self: stop procrastinating. Life is short and good coffee is important.

I grew up watching my mom put the Eight O'Clock coffee into a stovetop percolator and then waiting for it to "perk" in the glass bubble at the top of the pot. Several mornings a week, my breakfast consisted of dunking buttered toast into my own half cup of coffee, which was really half coffee and half milk. All these decades later, I still remember my third grade teacher, Mrs. Wilson (the old bitch), telling us that children should never drink coffee, that it was very bad for us. I struggled for days, thinking that my mother was guilty of bad parenting. When I told her what Mrs. Wilson had said, my mother controlled her rage, but assured me that dunking was not the same as drinking. I think after that, though, my breakfast was more often a bowl of Rice Krispies with a spoonful of sugar and homogenized milk.

There are so many coffee choices today, I considered creating one of those social media quizzes which questions our habits and patterns . . . all to no discernible point. Like this:

Whole bean or ground?
Arabica or Robusta?
Black or cream?
Caffeine or non?
Mr. Coffee or Cuisinart?
Keurig or French press?
Sugar or sweetener?
Starbucks or Dunkin'?

But who cares, really? As long as you like your coffee, it's all good. (But having asked the questions, I feel obligated to provide my answers: ground, Arabica, cream, caffeine, Cuisinart, no, no, and no.)

When I decided to write about coffee, of course the character of Juan Valdez came into my head. But there was another coffee advertising character that I tried to find information on. I wasted a good hour googling "Alec Sahenti" to no success. Finally, and somehow accidentally, I found "El Exigente," which means "The Demanding One." He was a spokesperson for Savarin Instant Coffee, played by Carlos Montalban in the early 80s. Not to be confused with Juan Valdez, who was created in 1958. Another Carlos (Carlos Sanchez) played the Valdez character in commercials for Colombian coffee for four decades, retiring in 2006. But the character lives on. As for El Exigente, I think the demanding one is dead.

Between the wasted hour trying to find the non-existent Alec Sahenti and the time spent thinking about mean old Mrs. Wilson, not to mention the actual writing time, I have managed to consume a bit more coffee than usual.  So I'm just going to buzz on out of here, clean out some closets, organize my desk, maybe start a novel. I now realize that if I could have some coffee before I make my coffee, I would have the energy to grind the beans.

Thanks again, Jeff, for the beans and the inspiration!