It wasn’t too long after that my sister got married and moved to Lafayette Louisiana. In the late 80’s we visited her and took a trip to New Orleans. I remember that coffee and Beignets were the normal diet. My dad purchased some strong canned stuff and brought it back to KC. There the can stayed in our freezer for nearly 3 years. I remember that the coffee was almost like drinking mud. Too much for me!
When I left for college, I purchased the small tea bags of coffee. I was now a true coffee connoisseur. From there I purchased my first 4 cup coffee maker and was on my way to the best brews ever. I worked on public safety all 4 years so many late nights were encompassed by the old familiar burnt cup of flavored water. Luckily I had the cream and sugar to help wash it down.
After graduation my wife and I started buying whole bean. Why you ask, because it was supposed to be fresher and full of body, whatever that meant. We were quickly identified as the coffee couple and the gift of choice for Christmas was now, you guessed it, coffee. But not just any coffee, this was the beginning of “flavor”. Who knows how long the stuff had been in the vacuum packed bag, but that’s where it sometimes stayed. I apologize to friends and family who were so thoughtful and giving, but we were “whole beaners,” and we were gradually coming around.
Our Pastor and his wife first introduced us to the coffee press, so our coffee skills quickly went to an all new level. Around the same time we purchased our first Bunn Coffee maker. We then entered the Dunkin Donut days of our lives, as we were hooked on the Arabica taste. In early 2005, I stumbled across a blog discussion on roasting coffee. I then started doing some research and was led to www.sweetmarias.com. That’s when I traded my Whirley Pop popper in for a gourmet roasting appliance.