Sometimes it is the littlest things. Take my morning coffee for instance. I sure enjoy that, a mixture of pleasure and nostalgia. Now I never really started drinking coffee until after I was in the Navy. I know it sounds cliche but it is the truth. Being in the Navy can influence many things in your life, coffee being the least of them. But I'm not talking about those, I'm talking about my morning coffee. I do enjoy a good cup of hot, black coffee. No sugar, no cream, no other flavors, just Folgers classic grind. After drinking government coffee for twenty years Folgers is far superior to Starbucks! A real treat, a luxury.
As for the nostalgia part, it does go back to my childhood. Grandmother Bennett kept a fresh pot of coffee on all day. After greeting you her next word always was, coffee? That percolator was there, hot and ready to go. Now Grandma didn't drink coffee, preferring tea, but she always had coffee for everyone else. When I was little she would pour an ounce of coffee in a cup, add lots or milk and sugar and we would share coffee. Made me feel like a part of the social scene, even though I had no idea it was a social scene. It was just being at grandmas. Grandma, her kitchen, and a percolator are forever linked in my thoughts. You can't have one without the other.
In the service coffee is brewed in an urn! Think about that. An urn. Usually associated with cremation, it's a place to put the ashes. Associated with death. In the service an urn is associated with life. Coffee is life to a sailor! Now I can't speak for the other branches but in the Navy, coffee is imperative. Old time sailors called it Joe but I rarely heard anyone say that. I'm not that old! Still coffee was important. Someone was always assigned to make the coffee for the watch. It didn't make any difference if you drank that coffee or not, you would be assigned to make it. When the boss wanted coffee you had best have coffee. In my day there were no automatic drip coffee makers on the ship! Well I joined in '71 and Mr. Coffee wasn't released to the public until '72. I was in until 1991 and still can't recall ever seeing an automatic drip coffee maker on a ship, not even in a private office. Surely there must have been some. But my memories are of those urns full of hot, black coffee. You learned to drink it that way simply because cream and sugar isn't always available, plus real sailors drink it black! It's a macho thing. And coffee is always drank from a mug, no cups. Hey, we're men here, this ain't a tea party!
Following my Navy career I drank plenty of coffee from automatic drip coffee makers. Mr Coffee and a host of others. I'll say this much, they are convenient. The coffee tastes good, like a great cheeseburger does, but doesn't compare to perked coffee, that's like a sirloin steak! Well maybe the analogy isn't the best but you get what I mean. So at some point I purchased an old fashioned percolator just like Grandma had. I even got it with the little glass in the lid so you can see it perk. Now that coffee is the best and I'm never going back. Well I went back, but back is better than forward in this case. I do enjoy that fresh perked coffee. And the funny thing about it is this, I like seeing the grounds in the bottom of my mug, although I call it a cup. I say a cup of coffee but I want a mug, isn't that strange? Well as long as it is hot, black and strong we are good to go. Sometimes it is the littlest things, coffee grinds.
As for the nostalgia part, it does go back to my childhood. Grandmother Bennett kept a fresh pot of coffee on all day. After greeting you her next word always was, coffee? That percolator was there, hot and ready to go. Now Grandma didn't drink coffee, preferring tea, but she always had coffee for everyone else. When I was little she would pour an ounce of coffee in a cup, add lots or milk and sugar and we would share coffee. Made me feel like a part of the social scene, even though I had no idea it was a social scene. It was just being at grandmas. Grandma, her kitchen, and a percolator are forever linked in my thoughts. You can't have one without the other.
In the service coffee is brewed in an urn! Think about that. An urn. Usually associated with cremation, it's a place to put the ashes. Associated with death. In the service an urn is associated with life. Coffee is life to a sailor! Now I can't speak for the other branches but in the Navy, coffee is imperative. Old time sailors called it Joe but I rarely heard anyone say that. I'm not that old! Still coffee was important. Someone was always assigned to make the coffee for the watch. It didn't make any difference if you drank that coffee or not, you would be assigned to make it. When the boss wanted coffee you had best have coffee. In my day there were no automatic drip coffee makers on the ship! Well I joined in '71 and Mr. Coffee wasn't released to the public until '72. I was in until 1991 and still can't recall ever seeing an automatic drip coffee maker on a ship, not even in a private office. Surely there must have been some. But my memories are of those urns full of hot, black coffee. You learned to drink it that way simply because cream and sugar isn't always available, plus real sailors drink it black! It's a macho thing. And coffee is always drank from a mug, no cups. Hey, we're men here, this ain't a tea party!
Following my Navy career I drank plenty of coffee from automatic drip coffee makers. Mr Coffee and a host of others. I'll say this much, they are convenient. The coffee tastes good, like a great cheeseburger does, but doesn't compare to perked coffee, that's like a sirloin steak! Well maybe the analogy isn't the best but you get what I mean. So at some point I purchased an old fashioned percolator just like Grandma had. I even got it with the little glass in the lid so you can see it perk. Now that coffee is the best and I'm never going back. Well I went back, but back is better than forward in this case. I do enjoy that fresh perked coffee. And the funny thing about it is this, I like seeing the grounds in the bottom of my mug, although I call it a cup. I say a cup of coffee but I want a mug, isn't that strange? Well as long as it is hot, black and strong we are good to go. Sometimes it is the littlest things, coffee grinds.
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