How Important can One Cup of Coffee Be?

Whilst the Yute was preparing to depart for school this morning, expecting the usual chorus from those that are optimistically half awake, I asked how the coffee was just as I normally do.  For those of you that don’t know, I roast my own coffee and think of myself as having some modicum of ability to turn out a nice roast and then parlay that into a delectable cup of coffee.

Soberingly, I was snatched from my half-awake stupor by the words clearly and authoritatively proffered by the Yute who normally bestows accolades upon my coffee,

“I didn’t think it was that good.”

For those old enough, can you hear the needle being dragged across the LP?

After he departed, I took him at his word, poured another cup and partook with an analytical and critical palate as opposed to gulping for the sake of caffeine injection.  The Yute was absolutely correct; the coffee roasted just 5 days ago is “muddy” and by all rights should be at its zenith.  The pondering begins ...

Knowing that the coffee brewing equipment was thoroughly clean (Krups Moka Brew) and that the Mazzer Mini coffee grinder had been completely disassembled and thoroughly cleaned just two days prior, I recalled the way the grounds looked in the filter assembly prior to discarding.  Surmising that the grind was incorrect, I setup the Krups Moka Brew exactly as I had for brewing earlier, changed the grind of the coffee to be coarser by a factor of 1.2 on the grinder, started the brewer and impatiently waited.

The first hint of the sweetness from the aromatics indicated that this pot of coffee was going to be much better than the previous.  Oh, yeah!  Cascading layers of sweetness induced pure palatal pleasure and ushered the return of exquisite elixir.

Other than Heaven’s Hollow Coffee tasting so good, one may wonder why this whole scenario is even worth noting.  Well, I’ll tell you.  To me, one of the most important things I attempt to teach, bestow, impart, impress upon the Yute is just how important it is for him to be him, for him to think for himself and to speak up and be heard.  Not who or what I think he should be, nor his mother, nor his friends or teachers, etc.  He constantly hears from me statements like:

    “God created you for a purpose.  Be who you are.”

    “Only you can be a brilliant you and you can only be a second rate someone else.”

    “Like what you like because you like it, not because someone else likes it.”

    “Speak up and be heard.  You and your thoughts are just as important as anyone else.”

and so on …

Well, this morning, he who is in the very early stages of his second decade of life clearly demonstrated that he was thinking for himself, had his own opinion and without fear of reprisal stated such directly to me on a subject I take very seriously ... and I improved.  I cannot wait to see him this afternoon to tell him that he was absolutely correct and just how proud I am of him.