gun sane

Greetings from down the slope in Maryville!

The First Battle of the Beans is over and I guess I can say it's a draw. To be honest, I'm a life-long ground man. I've spent my adult years drinking coffee that was chopped up and poured right out of the bag. Mutilating the beans before starting was something that I thought European men with hair buns should do, or a job best left to Starbucks baristas. But since the only thing constant in life is change, I was game to give it a whirl and try my luck. I faced my coffee machine like Mike Tyson going against Don Knotts and confidently poured the beans over the glistening blades. As we know, the first general order of those who stand to pee is: DO NOT READ THE INSTRUCTIONS, ESPECIALLY IF ANYONE IS LOOKING. However, I should have remembered that Red Green has modified that directive with "I'm a man, but I can change...if I have to, I guess." Just a casual read through of the operating manual would have told me to put a filter in first. As you can guess, the first cup was full of bean chunks and tasted like an imitation coffee cough drop. After spending the next ten minutes cleaning up the works, my second try was more fruitful. I added extra beans, inserted the filter, said a prayer and pushed the button. As I write this, a decent-tasting cup of Kicking Horse is next to me, but I've not fully broken that bronco yet. I still prefer letting someone else do the dirty work of grinding. But I've got an expensive bag of beans still laughing at me from the kitchen and tomorrow is going to be MY DAY!

I was looking for beans at the store tonight and the pickin's were scarce. I suppose most of Maryville drinkers don't want to grind their own. Then I spotted a bag of Kicking Horse Coffee medium roast named Three Sisters. It was nearly $14 for 10 oz. of beans. Oh, well....I've spent that much on a bad date. I'll get back to you.

My old Cuisinart machine was doing pretty good but our church gifted me a newer model that grinds beans. I'll have to try that feature as soon as my current ground coffee stock runs out.