Those who know me, know that I’m a bit of a coffee snob. It’s very much become a part of my identity. I’m the guy who loves long drives in red Jeeps and enjoys a well brewed coffee. That being said, it is a relatively new thing. During covid, while everyone was learning to bake sourdough, I was diving deep into coffee brewing. (I do also bake sourdough, but that’s a story for another time) Though my origin story with coffee goes back much farther. I’ve been working on a larger post, on my origins with long roads and red Jeeps…and I thought this thread has an important point to make in the greater narrative. My coffee story largely comes from the people around me. Community plays an important role.
The story begins at the mall. I have no idea how old I was. Less than 12? There was a little coffee shop that my Dad would buy coffee at. Of course, since he was drinking it, I wanted to try. He gave me a mostly empty cup and let me finish it. I don’t remember especially liking it, but I didn’t dislike it either. Drinking coffee was something that adults did, and I was one of those kids who was always wanting to grow up faster.
My next run in with coffee was at church. After the worship service coffee was served for the adults while the kids went to Sunday School. It was kind of a rite of passage to be old enough to join the adults standing in line for coffee. I think that was around 13 years old?
Otherwise, my family generally wasn’t a coffee family. Tea was far more common. So I really didn’t drink a ton of coffee for my early teenage years aside from that weekly coffee at church. Although I did have a friend who’s family was big on coffee, so I would drink coffee with them when I visited.
Unsurprisingly, Tim Hortons played a part. I don’t remember exact timelines, but as my friends and I got licenses to drive, stopping by Tim Hortons for coffee was one of the things we did. Also, I did work a very short stint in construction, and Tim Hortons was a big part of that culture. At the time the double-double was popular, so that was what I drank…
Here the story connects briefly with my road tripper origins. My initial trips were with a group of friends who were all avid coffee drinkers. I had always pushed to leave super early in the morning. They insisted the day must start with a Timmies coffee run. Despite me not being fan of wasting time on getting coffee, that tradition has carried on and has been part of the beginning of every trip I’ve been on since, even when I travel solo.
Drinking Tim Hortons coffee continued as a sporadic trend as I went to university. In 3rd year I moved into a house with a bunch of guys who were coffee drinkers. We had a 1 cup drip coffee maker and bought cheap pre-ground coffee…nothing fancy, but at this point my coffee drinking became more habitual.
After graduating from university and going through some job turmoil, I got a software job working from home. As life became a little more routine, so did my coffee rituals. I especially remember beginning a habit of starting the day with coffee and devotions…that has carried on to this day as well.
In 2013 I moved to London(Ontario), and for a year had my own apartment. I still had a little 1 cup drip coffee maker and experimented with various brands of pre-ground coffee. Other methods of brewing coffee weren’t known to me. Somewhere along the way I had also switched to drinking my coffee black and very strong.
I then spent a year living in my church pastor’s basement, and was introduced to buying beans, grinding them, and brewing with a pour over. Freshly grinding beans is probably the biggest single change one can do for better coffee. I was hooked, and have bought coffee in unground form since. As is common in this story, my coffee enjoyment and skills often came from the people around me.
Interestingly enough, my 2019 Yukon trip had a lasting effect on my coffee ritual. There was a coffee roaster in Whitehorse, where I got some freshly roasted beans. They were amazing; so back home I looked for local roasters and have typically bought local since then. Fresh beans definitely add an extra complexity to the taste.
Covid restrictions came and though I still had a job, there was a period when I was basically just on-call. So I couldn’t go far from home, but I wasn’t doing much work. During that time I dug in and began being more intentional with my coffee game. Although, the initial change still came from other people. My brother had gotten into french press coffee, so I got a french press and spent a lot of time on youtube looking for brewing tips. I discovered James Hoffman’s videos and learned more about the details of coffee brewing. That led to buying a burr grinder, a weigh scale, and learning to brew my french press using Hoffman’s no-press method.
At this point I would sometimes bring coffee beans and french press to family gatherings and share my skills. My coffee making must have made an impact, as my dad started getting more into coffee brewing and has gone so far as to make his own custom water for coffee(by mixing minerals with distilled water). I’m not sure how much of that was from me, but I like to think that I’ve passed on my love of good coffee, even as it was so often shared with me by others.
Once one gets into better coffee brewing, consistency becomes important. I was struggling with being consistent with the French Press, and it just so happened James Hoffman did a series on the Mocha Pot. The mocha pot brew is currently my mainstay and I’m getting decently consistent with it. Part of my enjoyment of the mocha pot is because it’s a lesser known, unique way of making coffee…and I do like being a little different from the crowd.
In the last year I’ve also been experimenting with cold brew. At work, they have a pour over setup and light roast beans…so I’ve been learning to enjoy light roast pour over, which is apparently where the true snobbery is. Also, that means us coffee nerds can get together and try to convince other co-workers to try the good stuff.
I mentioned at the beginning that I’m also working on my road tripping origin story. My road tripping identity is something that I have worked hard at. It can seem like without direct action on my part, none of it would have ever happened. It brings up questions of what it looks like to submit to God’s plan.
When it comes to coffee, it’s almost the exact opposite. Many parts of my coffee story come from other people. Most of this journey happened with very little input from me at all. I didn’t set out with a plan to become really good at brewing coffee. It came in parts and I took was was given and ran with it.
A life of truly submitting to God is probably a mix of both. Forging ahead on some paths, but also being open to completely different roads that might not have been on the trip plan. Sometimes God’s plans are in line with ours and sometimes they go completely different ways…but His ways are always the best.
The Narrow Twisty Road 