Bed and Breakfast blend

For my new beans, I had to do something quick and easy and bought a lb of Millstone Bed and Breakfast blend from the local monster Wal-Mart. I'm not a big fan of Wal-Mart. When I was in college, before Wal-Mart mutated to the beast it is, I used to spend my weekends strolling the aisles, looking at appliances, eye-balling sheet sets, picking out a VHS to buy (before I discovered the magic of DVD). In college, Wal-Mart sold a small amount of food: milk, break, canned goods, pancake mix, brownie mix, chips, beer. I'd get a frozen pizza, a box of brownie mix, a dozen eggs, and a B-movie from the bin and that would comprise my weekend.

I also drank powdered coffee. It wasn't the crystalized coffee like Sanka, but a cappuccinno mix, and I thought I was classy. I'd fill my travel mug with what is essentially coffee-flavored hot chocolate or hot-chocolate textured coffee. Either way, I got it from Wal-Mart because it cost $.99.

On my way back from spending the afternoon in Gucci, Prada, Ralph Lauren, and Barney's (not to mention the Gap outlet - ok, they were all outlets and I still couldn't afford to buy anything), I had to quick stop buy Wal-Mart to grab food supplies for my week on my own. I don't think I've graduated from the college way of eating, since I stocked up on TV dinners, tater tots, milk, Frosted Mini-Wheats (the only sugar cereal I could buy and not feel like I'm psychologically regressing), and coffee beans, since I used up the last of my Guatamala Estate that morning. There would be no opportunity to buy anything else that could be subsidized by my benefactor.

When I spend that snowy night in December with Trish, in her tiny motel room studio apartment, she introduced me to coffee. Trish was a bit of a caffeine addict, as coffee drinkers are. You start off with fancy-smancy coffee but your budget ends up such that all you can afford is the stuff at the supermarket. Trish's Italian Roast, the cup to which I compare all my cups, was Millstone, bought from the local Mutant Wal-Mart. When it was time for me to pick new beans, I first gravitated toward Starbucks beans, as I felt that probably would be the best quality in a flash (who am I kidding), but decided to go with Millstone. I don't recall why I chose the Bed and Breakfast blend; perhaps it's because the blend is so common. So I decided to give it a whirl. What do I have to lose?

I want to talk about my Toastmaster coffee grinder for a minute. It's a pain in the butt to grind your own beans every morning and honestly, I really don't taste any difference. Along with grinding, I have to clean the grinder with soap and water and I am a terribly lazy person. The grinder works satisfactorily, but with one problem: it doesn't give an even grind. The grinds are powder fine at the blade, and adequately coarse at the top. Mother finally put her foot down and told me that I needed to make my coffee a little weaker - the caffeine content makes her queasy. I've adjusted to a larger water to grind ratio, but I'm still having problems making a perfect pot. I blame my grinder and my need to be coffee sophisticated.

My first pot of Breakfast Blend was potent. It had that "burned" taste of Colombian Supremo, slightly bitter, not at all good. The next pot was better and with me switching to half-and-half, I'm starting to get a real taste of the coffee.

I'm caring little about my coffee, as long as it gives me that jolt of energy that makes me so charming, regulates my bowels, and keeps me from eating my weight in ice cream. I'm a little distressed at my caffeine addiction, since my religious upbringing warned me about it. Maybe Dad was right and coffee is bad. As soon as the Millstone bean is gone, I'll go to something really swank, just to get me on track. Like the %100 Kona my mom is bringing me back from Hawaii. Nice.