Sunday is suppose to be a day of rest according to the way I was raised, we still had our normal chores that had to be done daily like feeding the chickens, collecting the eggs, and making sure the rest of the livestock was fed and healthy. If there were any sick animals we had to tend to them, but other than “normal” things it was pretty much get the normal done at the crack of dawn and then get cleaned up for church.
After church we would go back home and then wait on Mamma to get dinner ready, some folks call it lunch, but I’ve always known it as dinner. Supper is the evening meal just so we have our terms straight, I’m not going to try and change your mind on what to call your meals, call them anything you like, just remember to call me when it is time to eat.
I think we can all agree that the first meal in the morning with the bacon , eggs , toast and fried potatoes is called heaven. There isn’t a better way to start the day then with a taste a heaven. Now some of you might call it breakfast and if you are than you just ain’t eating the right stuff first thing in the morning, if you were, you would agree it is heaven.
When I reached the age of 13 I started drinking coffee and that added a whole new dimension to heaven for me, the orange juice was always good but when I got going on the coffee; the juice was second fiddle for me. I still drank the juice as Mamma was big on making sure we ate right, we had to have our daily dose of fruits and vegetables. That might be why I don’t eat vegetables now, but I still have a daily dose to share.
How many of you remember when coffee was actually brewed? That’s a pretty fair amount of you; I don’t have a lot of young folks stopping by here regularly so it doesn’t surprise me that over half of you have the memories of coffee actually brewing. My father was a railroad engineer and he had a house rule when it came to coffee, only women could use the cream and sugar in the coffee. If you grew up as a male in his house you were a black man just like him. Railroaders liked their coffee strong; I think his coffee would have eaten a hole in a Styrofoam cup if you tried to put some in one.
If he were alive today and went into a Star Bucks I believe he would have a heart attack on how they doctor the coffee up to taste like anything but coffee. Why do people spend $5 or $6 bucks on a cup of whipped creamed milk with cinnamon sprinkled over the top of it and then pretend they are drinking coffee? Those drinks have about the equivalent of a shot glass worth of coffee in them, and if you get the espresso maybe two shots. As a black man, I can tell you are really missing the boat when it comes to coffee flavor by drinking those phooffy ladies drinks.
I can remember it used to take about a good twenty minutes to brew a pot of coffee to the right strength for the old man. That old coffee pot was stainless steel and had the clear glass top right in the center of it so you could see just how dark the coffee was while it was perking, perking is short for percolating. The more the water perked and then passed thru the coffee grinds the stronger the coffee was with flavor. I know old @bigtom13 knows what I am talking about when it comes to perking coffee; I saw a picture of that percolator pot of theirs from one of his travel / camping posts.
While I am on the subject of coffee let me share a little secret with you, everyone thinks that the best coffee in the world comes from Columbia, I still remember seeing the commercials with Juan Valdez and his burro with sacks of coffee beans on its back coming down the mountain trail. Well I happen to know the family that, at least back in the 90’s, was supplying Star Bucks with over 80% of the coffee beans that Star Bucks was purchasing and it wasn’t coming from Columbia, that’s right, it wasn’t old Juan Valdez.
The family was the Leal family from Guatemala, and I know because I was supplying them equipment for their coffee growing operation and their fruit orchards. Every time one of the family members came to the Houston they would bring me the best coffee you could imagine. I’m not talking about a pound or two, they would bring me cases of one pound bags, and each case had 16 bags in it. My freezer was full of beef and coffee most of the time.
It has been a real long time since I have had a cup of brewed coffee, I honestly can’t think of a place that actually brews coffee any longer. All the coffee makers now just have the water pass thru the coffee grinds just one time and that is it, there is a lot of flavor being thrown away each day in doing it like that.
When I finally get around to finding a place in Pandora, Texas so I can open a box shop I might just have to plan on opening up a coffee shop along with it. I can tell you right now there won’t be baristas working for me when I do, but you will be able to get some real fresh brewed coffee, you might want to bring your own cream and sugar. The coffee will be in the $2.00 price range for a big cup, if you want cream and sugar that will cost you an extra $5.00. I think I just figured out how Star Bucks make so much money.
I started out this post to tell you that I was probably going to find some old rerun movies to watch since the rest of the family will be up at the church this Sunday afternoon helping set up things for Vacation Bible School that takes place this coming week. I kind of got side tracked with memories, in a way it was its own sort of reruns. I may have to forego those old movies and see if I can’t go buy a percolating coffee pot instead.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
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