Smell the coffee

A few weeks ago my satellite internet connection was on the blink for a few days so I hunted for every WiFi internet connection in a thirty mile radius. I used my laptop to connect to the net at BBQ joints, pizza parlors, sports bars, sandwich shops, shopping center parking lots and coffee shops, lots of coffee shops.
Coffee shops are sure not what they used to be. What happened to the waitress tossing a coaster onto the table faster then you could say please? I have not seen a white ceramic coffee mug resting on a saucer in a long time and those tiny pitchers of real cream disappeared about the time they put pop tops on beer cans. A can opener in my glove box so I could open my Falstaff beer. I gave up that vice a long time ago, lets get back on track this is suppose to be about coffee.
I like coffee and enjoy drinking it all that much more when my nose alerts me to the fragrance of raw coffee beans and the roasting and grinding of them. When I see 100 pound burlap sacks of coffee beans setting around I know the coffee will taste good. I am not one of those vanilla latte guys! I drink my coffee the only way coffee is suppose to be drank, BLACK with no cream or sugar. I am a real man!
Most coffee drinkers today are afflicted with the Starbucks syndrome. I am a fan of Starbucks only because their coffee is so good but the noise level in their stores is usually a little too much for me. I prefer a more laid back Java Joint with abstract art and lots of pony tails. Starbucks has raised our expectations about what coffee should be, its not just a beverage anymore. Its the felling that you are treating yourself to an affordable luxury. Its about setting in a comfortable coffee bar, listening to hip music while you read a book, write a story or work on your laptop. Maybe that's just a rationalization of the only vice I have left but that's why I drink coffee. Coffee romances me. The warmth of the cup in my hand, the gurgling of coffee brewing and the talk about everything under the sun conversations with people I have never met, it's about the experience.
You know what? I think I'm ready for another cup!