Guy's Personal Coffee History

Childhood
I grew up with coffee drinking parents who were the product of the 50's. Hills Brothers, Folgers, and Sanka were all common household brands. However, I never drank coffee until my senior year in college -- I was still hoping I would grow a few more inches -- I stopped growing at 5'3" at age 15.

The 80's
Unfortunately, my memory is drawing blanks during this time. One memory I have of the time between college and grad school -- Friday nights, my dad and I would go to an Italian restaurant. I found the secret to the perfect meal. A good beer before the meal. A good wine during the meal. A cup of coffee with dessert -- a rich chocolate mousse. Mmm. Hedonistic heaven! In grad school I don't think coffee was that big of a part of my life. Maybe a cup when I first got to school.

The 90's
After grad school (PhD in chemistry), I went into Christian ministry. I lived in a large house with about 12 other male college students - the house was like a Christian frat house. Went to bed at midnight. Woke up at 6:00. Then studied the Bible with 4-5 other Christian workers with the intensity of supreme court justices every morning, Tuesday through Friday.

THIS WAS THE TIME OF SERIOUS COFFEE DRINKING!

We had the usual Folgers/Maxwell House/etc. coffee made in a Mr. Coffee. My sister also gave me an espresso machine she had gotten as a wedding gift. I made myself pseudo-lattes -- I cheated and just heated up the milk in a microwave and poured in a triple shot.

2001
I moved to Ann Arbor, MI in 2001 and lived a few blocks down from Trader Joe's. I began drinking Trader Joe's organic coffee. Mmm. That was good coffee. Still made in a Mr. Coffee. But it sure tasted good.

2005
I moved to Pittsburgh. Unfortunately I no longer lived near Trader Joe's. I did find organic beans at Sam's Club. 2.5 lbs for $14.42. Not bad, that's $5.77 a pound. This was good coffee. But my wife did not shop much at Sam's club, so to purchase a $50 yearly membership just to buy coffee seemed unreasonable to me.

I also upgraded my coffee maker to a Cuisinart Grind and Brew - thanks to a "free" gift from one of my credit card companies.

Just about 6-8 weeks ago, I saw 8 O'Clock coffee on sale at Giant Eagle - buy one get one free. I heard that this was decent coffee. I bought one light roast, and got a dark roast for free. Yuck! It had a chemical aftertaste, especially the light roast. The organic coffee I made before even tasted ok one day later - just water it down a little and heat it up in a microwave. But when I did the same thing to 8 O'Clock, that chemical taste was like chewing on bandaids.

Then I read God in a Cup. I found it in the new book section of the library. This book was inspiring. It put a desire within me to investigate the coffee world.

My philosophy is whereever we are, we should be able to at least take one small step toward improvement. So here is where I have begun my coffee journey - 8 O'Clock Coffee made in a Cuisinart Grind and Brew. The French Press was my first step toward improvement.