The Coffee Corner - Welcome!

Coffee. Yum. As a kid, my parents always had a mug with them in the morning. Mom preferred the thin mugs with black coffee. Dad preferred the fat mugs with sugar. I was never really that interested in the stuff until I started college. Then the late nights out on the town and last minute, write a ten page essay by tomorrow all-nighters created a monster. I got a coffee maker for my dorm room and I have never looked back!

I prefer my creamer with a splash of coffee. Cinammon vanilla to be exact. Yum. The lighter the better! But in today's economy, I will take what I can get. The less $$ out of my pocket the better (sorry Starbucks)!

For work I am constantly out at different clients with different types of coffee. Different flavors, different brewers, different sugars and creamers in a variety of dispensers. And just when I think I have seen it all, a new client introduces something new and different and scary at the same time (I NEED coffee, yes it is an addiction and if I think I might not get some it becomes scary). SO I thought my blog would be a great forum to share my different coffee experiences!

First, I thought I would cover my home brewing coffee experience. We have a Hamilton Beach Brewstation. It brews 12 cups at a time and is programmable. Now, I should clarify. I am the ONLY coffee drinker in my house. Ben tried drinking coffee at home for a short time, but with his back issues his chiropractor scared him away from it. Now he says he just doesn't like the coffee I buy...doesn't taste good or something...

When you have a 12 cup brewer for one person you have a two options 1) brew only as much as you plan to drink each day (which for me is usually 1 or 2, 2 cup portions), 2) brew an entire pot and reheat as needed. I personally opt for number 2. It limits the total prep time each morning and allows me to heat to my preferred temperature. For the record, coffee from the pot is TOO HOT! Yikes...better to heat for 1.5 minutes in the microwave. Anyway, an entire pot usually lasts the entire week. It works for me. At one point I remember someone telling me that it was incredibly gross to leave the coffee out in the pot to continue to consume through the week. As I am not germiphobe, it didn't bother me at all. I have come to peace with it.

BUT it turns out I am not alone in my single consumer coffee consuming ways! We had some neighbors over and it turns out the matriarch of their family is the only consumer AND brews an entire pot for herself AND reheats through the week. I really love my neighborhood and this only strengthens the bond (now nobody move, okay)!

I have no preference as to mug size or shape, except most that I have are short and fat mugs. Mostly covered with kitties or other promotional item. It's my mug set from college and returned items from gifts to mom. I love my mugs.

As I mentioned, I am not a black coffee girl. I really prefer a TON of creamer. But as to conserve $$, I have just been sugaring my cup each morning. With Splenda...three packets. Perfect. Okay, now that I am done with this I should go to bed so I can get up tomorrow morning with my daily cup 'o Joe!