Perhaps my taste has changed; perhaps I have grown tired of the failed promises, but whatever the reason, I have given up on the mainline and gone for a radical solution.
No more coffee for me. After months of hopes raised by slick, colored tin-foil packaging, of smelling the delicious aroma of coffee--only to be disappointed by the brewed result, coffee is gone from my daily diet.
I have tried at least ten different highly-recommended brands with poor results. Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Folgers, imported Rowandan coffee, Cafe Ole, Sensco, Eight O'Clock, Maxwell House, name it, I've tried it. I have bought a new coffee pot, tried three older ones with poor results. I have ground coffee beans, thinking that might render my sought-for pleasure. Nada. Nada. Nada.
The only satisfying cup of coffee I have found is at McDonalds--and I'm not going to drive thru there five times a day to fix my caffeine level.
Starbucks was a tremendous let-down. The mecca of good coffee seekers, so I thought. I tried, but, I don't want a coffee milkshake, just a plain cup of black coffee. When I asked for that, what they gave me was strong enough to clog my esophagus. I can only assume the appeal of that place is to adolescent desires for candied coffee.
Hello tea. For some reason, unexplained to me, I can taste hot, freshly-brewed tea. It has a pleasant flavor, and I get a smug affirmation of my distant English roots.
Brewing tea seems so elementary and so idiosyncratic. You can steep your cup to your precise taste.
A covenant forms between you and your little bag of tea. A bonding is fused: "treat me kindly and I will deliver just the taste for which you thirst." The only pain associated with the process is the discarding of the bag, after the steeping is done. [I wonder if you can get a quality taste by using the tea bag more than once?]
Earl Grey is the tea of choice for the moment; but, I have only been on this kick for a couple of weeks. I am willing to experiment around with other flavors. In the meantime you may call me a "tea-bagger", in the radical sense of course.
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