All Things Coffee

I like coffee. Maybe I even love coffee. I love reading the paper or a magazine with steaming mug in my hand. I love catching up with friends over frothy cappuccinos. I love waking up early and drinking a cup outside on the balcony.

My top ten coffee loves:

1. My coffee maker. Perfect for one North American mug or three teeny-tiny European mugs (can you even call that a mug??).

my tiny mugs

2. My travel mug. It took a lot of time to find a good one here, as this is not a "travel mug" kind of country. I get stared at on a regular basis (um, did I mention I'm really tall?), and a travel mug just adds fodder to the fire, but it is SO WORTH IT to have a hot coffee for the commute. I think my students appreciate it, too. It's nice when your teacher is awake.

3. Coffee grounds. I'm serious, they're useful! They help the compost move along, and more recently, they have become the star ingredient in my homemade wakey-wakey foot scrub. Puts some pep in your step, har har.

4. Flavoured coffees. I can't help it, they're so good! Flavoured syrup shots? I'll have none of them; but give me a flavoured roast, or at least a dash of cinnamon before brewing!

my tiny coffee maker

5. This latte recipe. Elise, thank you, THANK YOU for this! (and for this!)

6. Diurno. My favourite place to enjoy a cappuccino in Madrid. You'll get a ski-jump sized peak of steamed milk on the top of a reasonably-sized mug here. It's a coffee shop with a video rental place in it. I like the long picture windows, although the views aren't great, the concrete floors and white furniture, and while I've never rented a video there, I like that I could.

7. Cafe bonbon. This is a Spanish thing, and the point of those tiny cups - a tiny but strong coffee served with a spoonful of sweetened condensed milk. The coffee floats on top until you mix it. A (very) sweet treat, although now I've got a recipe to make sugar-free sweetened condensed milk at home, so yummmm...

8. 12-cup percolators. I got one for Christmas, woot woot! Sometimes I have company. And sometimes I want to have various cups of coffee, like when I'm working through a German lesson or planning on going out past ten at night.

9. Iced coffee spoons. I even like them for cereal or parfaits, or for reaching the last strawberry in Tall Guy's bowl. They're just cool.

10. The smell of coffee that I didn't make coming from the kitchen. There's just something so Saturday about that, don't you think?