Coffee, tea, and mystery.
Coffee is a popular beverage in the USA, to be sure. According to this article from USA Today (Coffee grinds fuel for the nation ), about 83 percent of adults drink coffee in the U.S., the world's biggest consumer of the beverage, up from 78 percent a year earlier, according to the National Coffee Association's 2013 online survey. That's an average of three cups a day per person, or 587 million cups.
Many of our early morning DKos commenters admit to needing coffee in order to make a coherent comment, and many virtual cups are offered to remedy the situation.
I googled "coffee preparation methods" and by one count there are at least 50 different methods. Each method has its adherents and they are as fanatic as one would expect. They range from camping coffee, boiling grounds in a pan, to sophisticated and expensive machines that can give you a back rub while producing the world's best cup of coffee.
Using the Kos search engine I found that this is not the only beverage survey, but today I'm interested in how the KTK people make their coffee, if indeed they do so.
For years we used an inexpensive drip system, similar to a Mr. Coffee. It did the job, but the heat stayed on as we drank the coffee and it became progressively worse and more bitter. We finally got one in which the pot is a thermal container. The coffee is still hot and very good three hours later. It has a timer such that the coffee is ready and fresh when we awake.
We bought our son one of those new types where you make one cup at a time in one minute. It seemed like a great gift but it malfunctioned soon and I returned it. I could tell early on that he was suspicious of it; he went back to manually pouring hot water through a filter one cup at a time.
So if you are among the 83% that drinks coffee, how do you prepare it? Why does your method take so long? How is it better than anyone else's? Why do you go to Starbucks when you could go to Peet's? How is it that MacDonald's has such good coffee for so cheap? Or any other coffee or tea miscellany.
Now for the mystery. As I explained in my KTK diary of Last Sept. 8, I have to go down into a steep canyon to maintain my water system. It's Spring, and the flow from my cistern was down to a trickle, so it was time to take the perilous trip down to the spring, clean it out, cross my fingers, and turn on the pump. Now this canyon is densely forested and far far from any road or dwelling. Once the pump started I made my way back up the steep hill. A little more than half way I noticed an odd patch of white. In 34 years I have been the only person (except for a plumber) to be in this canyon, or so I thought. Just off the path was two sheets of fiberboard covering 100 feet of orange rope, and a very good saw.
Such a puzzle. Was this related to growing dope down there? No, too many trees and no sun. My only theory at this point is someone intending to set up a shelter and camp. I left everything there but returned the next day with a sign which I taped on the boards:
Private Property. Please don't trespass. Thank you.
If the stuff is still there next week, the saw is MINE! Then from one end of the property I'll have a saw, and from the other end, a cool beer mug:
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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