Drinking Coffee All the Time

Sometimes, things don't go as planned. The first few days of our annual August vacation were cold, rainy, and dismal. Instead of opting for cool spritzers, I found myself craving hot coffee. I found great comfort in Beanstock Coffee , a remarkable line of beans brewed by a company that started roasting coffee in 1996 in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Three days into our vacation, the sun came out. People swarmed the beaches, runners took to the streets, and there were glorious shouts of joy from the bike paths. Like many others, we took to the beach to watch the sunset. I brought Beanstock along. It was satisfying on every level! Here I am at Duck Harbor drinking combo hazelnut/Wellfleet blend, the best of all possible worlds--combined in one cup.

About a week ago, the unthinkable happened. One mid-August morning, my Barista Aroma TM 8-cup coffeemaker broke. It became essentially unusable. My first reaction was denial. The large rubber lip of the thermal carafe had become completely unhinged. I tried to meld it back together, but this coffee maker was almost 4 years old. Indeed, if ever there was ‘planned obsolescence’ this was it---because it was definitely NOT abuse. Over the years, I have loved that coffeemaker. On some cold winter mornings, I would practically coo at it as it competently brewed my coffee. I loved many of its features. It’s black and silver sleekness, the gold mesh flat filter, the fact that I could yank the carafe away from the case before it finished brewing in order to pour myself half a cup. I loved the shushing sound it made as it brewed, the strategically placed water canister, and the digital read-out. Ours was a warm respectable relationship informed by my primal addiction to coffee.