Is life better with a coffee machine ?

To bean, or not to bean: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous freeze-dried or powder,

Or to take arms and fire up the coffee machine.

(Apologies to The Bard )

With all of our fabulous café experiences these days, should we be afraid to make a coffee for ourself, or friends, with anything other than the technology? If so, is life really better with a coffee machine? Having worked in coffee for a few years now, this question has occurred to me regularly and it may be now an opportune time to explore it.

I’ll be the first to admit that there is something reassuring about reading the newspaper on a Sunday morning at home on a sunny balcony or in the convivial ambience of a busy café. As the aroma of that long mac drifts up to the nostrils, one can scour the pages for meaningful content, in some sort of trance blocking any form of distraction. Life seems complete.

Yet, do we pass on the coffee at someone’s place when we see the paper filters come out? They seem to enjoy it. ‘Who are these people in the time warp?’ It all sounds very euro. Are they the same people at the beach who never made it to board shorts and seem so comfortable in their lemon coloured ‘Speedos’?

For some, it is about the physical act of leaving home and getting in the car to go and watch someone make a coffee on something, which, perhaps, they cannot afford to buy? All the while using the pleasures of the caffeine, to avoid thinking about the load of dirty washing that has to be machined later in the morning?

Is it because all these other coffee makers are for those people that seem to know so much more than many of us about the processes? If we join their ranks will we just be pretending to know what it is all about ?

Lastly, the ‘me generation’ says ‘I want it because it is new and it’s shiny and that’s what it’s all about.’ Or, perhaps, I want to feel like I’m the artist – ‘I want my coffee machine because I’m so sick of being disappointed when I’m out. I’ll do it myself and it will always be how it should be, and no skinny and no soy thanks’.

In all these instances what seems to come out is that we all simply like or love to drink coffee. It’s simply horses for courses when it comes to the means or reasons! Perhaps what’s more important than the myriad of ways we can drink it, is the coffee bean itself. Where did it come from? Who picked it? Is that a hint of cinnamon notes in the background (ha! ha!) - but that is for another episode.

Whatever, whoever and whenever, life isn’t just better because of coffee machines, life is better because of coffee.

Ross Quail

Copyright 2007-02-25

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