Oh Cone, all ye faithful...

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One of Nick Cho's tweets yesterday made me laugh. It was a picture of some pourover cones being put to an extremely creative use at the dinner table--namely, as French fry servers, complete with filter paper liners to catch grease! I thought, "Brilliant!" And then it occurred to me that this might be the start of a specialty coffee phenomenon the likes of which nobody riding the latest wave has ever seen.

I'm talking about coning [NB: not this kind]. Planking comes off as so early 2011 in comparison--not to mention quasi-lame and coffee-unfriendly. With coning, the coffee gear takes center stage. It's not about where you do it, but with what. There's a visual aid above feebly attempting to riff on egg nog flavored coffee, which I was sent recently. Feel me?

Live in the moment, at the center of the cone. Picture the precision spout of a Bonavita kettle hovering overhead, but don't be limited by the knowledge of what usually happens next. Imagine pulsing vortices of energy pouring over you instead of water heated to between 198 and 204 degrees F. Ask yourself, "What do I want to be surrounded with? What medium do I feel compelled to extract insight from?"

How about amethyst crystals? Quinoa? Pickled ginger? Starbucks Via packets? Phoenix tears? Anything goes, truly.

Consider also that coning provides a form of therapy to those among us who take their coffee perhaps *too* seriously and/or obsess over their brew gadgets. By coning we affirm that our sense of humor is alive and kicking, that sacred cows need milking, that Hario is just a name (and not a deity). The last bit is worth saying twice: Hario is just a name... (same goes for Kalita, Melitta, Nandita, and the like).

Who's with me? Get your cone on! You're all invited to post links to pics in the comments section.