First Entry!

This is the first of many blog entries I hope to make about my views on coffee, my experiences drinking coffee, and my experiences with coffee resulting from moving around the United States.

One thing I’ve learned is that coffee is many things to many people: for some its what gets you up in the morning and keeps you going during the day, for some people it’s a harmful drug, to be avoided at all costs, and for some people it’s a wonderful and complex beverage to be enjoyed much like a fine wine (with the caffeine jolt as a pleasant byproduct!).   For myself Coffee has been all three; I grew up not drinking coffee and thinking of it much like one would think of cigarettes. Then I went to work in public accounting, and the 12-14 hour days led me to become a regular coffee drinker. I began to depend on caffeine to get me through the days and help keep me chipper. Then I moved to San Francisco, where my real love affair with coffee began.

I first experienced real coffee at a Blue Bottle stand in the Ferry Terminal Farmers Market. It was a cold, rainy morning in San Francisco and after dragging myself out of bed to get at some fresh produce I needed a pick me up. For whatever reason I decided to stand in line with the rest of the “rubes” and when it came time for me to pick something I ordered a coffee, black.

This was a transformative moment for me; the freshly ground coffee prepared in a pour-over station was clean, flavorful, complex and warming. I loved it.

Now? Now I live and work in Oklahoma City. I’m working for a major corporation and am part of a rotational program that’s going to move me around the country (at least 3 more times). While here I’ve been working on finding good coffee roasters, expanding my ever-growing collection of grinders and coffee brewing devices and trying local coffee shops.

What I hope to share with you will fall into, as of right now, five categories:

1) Equipment reviews

2) Coffee reviews

3) Reviews of roasters

4) Reviews of coffee shops

5) Misc musings about coffee, stories about my experiences in learning about coffee and the kinds of people I’ve encountered who sell/prepare/drink the brown stuff.

Thanks for reading!

-Ross