Black Coffee

   This is sort of about black coffee but really it's not about black coffee. The actual black coffee is truly the smallest and most insignificant thing about this little story I'm preparing to tell you.
   One day last week, I made a regularly scheduled visit to my chiropractor, Zeinin Haji. Zeinin is this wonderful woman who, a few years ago, took a man whose hips could barely get him across the livingroom floor and changed him into a viable, functioning human being once again. Because of this, I tend to pay attention to what she says.
   Last week, in the middle of an adjustment, she suggested I might be better off if I lost five pounds. In chiropractic terms, she thought it would create a better "balance". What I found remarkable about this was that she has never said anything to me about my weight before and, believe me, I have needed to lose five pounds pretty well since I was fifteen!
   When she said this, I immediately became suspicious that perhaps she and my wife, Doralyn, had been involved in some conspiracy. I had noticed that Doralyn had been in for an appointment with Zeinin about an hour before I got there. What a coincidence that Zeinin was now talking to me about my weight.....hmmm.
   After the adjustment, we sat down and Zeinin drew me out a bit of a pie chart with proteins, carbs and fats on it and suggested a diet higher in protein and with a little less of the others. We then agreed that I would try and lose five pounds by my next visit, in a month, and that my overall goal might be closer to thirty pounds. Not unreasonable.
   Here's where the black coffee comes in.
   At some point while we were talking about small and simple things I could do to lose weight and be healthier, Zeinin suggested that I could start drinking my coffee black. Now, the whole time she'd been talking to me, I had been gently nodding my head up and down, in total acquiescence. When she mentioned drinking my coffee black, my head started swiveling back and forth sideways. I have never taken my coffee black. I can't stand the taste of black coffee. Over the years, I've had pretty well every combination of milk, cream, sugar and sweetener in an attempt to be healthier but I always drew the line at drinking it black. In my mind, right there in Zeinin's office, I'm thinking no way.
   I headed for home after the appointment and was standing in the kitchen, telling Doralyn about it. She swore up and down that my name had never come up during her earlier appointment with Zeinin. Which is now kind of beside the point because when it comes right down to it, I do need to lose a whole bunch of weight and Doralyn reminded me that I've been promising her for years that I would be a healthier husband for her. At that point, I mentioned to Doralyn about the black coffee. I told her what my reaction had been when I had heard black coffee described as a healthier alternative. Right there in the kitchen, I more or less told Doralyn there was no way I was going to be following that little bit of Zeinin's advice. At this point, Doralyn turned to leave the kitchen and as she did so, looked over her shoulder at me, smiled sweetly and said, "Perhaps Zeinin thinks I'm worth it!"
   With this one short phrase, Doralyn more or less nailed me to the cross of my love for her.
   I stood there in the kitchen after she left with my mouth (or was it my soul) hanging a little open. Of course she's worth it! This was, and always has been, the undeniable truth to it all and all the responsibility around this had just been very clearly distributed right back in my lap. Clearly, where it belonged.
   I followed Doralyn into the livingroom, smiled, looked down and pointed my finger at her (as I tend to do every time she amazes me with something) and told her, "That was good!"

She seems worth it, doesn't she??

   The next morning, I drank my coffee black. I made more black coffee and took it to work with me. I then drank black coffee all weekend long and I drank black coffee today.
   Along with all this black coffee, I've been eating lots of protein, fewer carbs and healthier fats. I've been to the gym twice and hiked and run. I've lost about five pounds but it's five pounds I knew would come off quickly once I started to really pay attention. 
   The black coffee, with its missing milk, of course, will likely always be one of the smallest parts of me being healthier. With all the things I can do to be more mindful of my health, however, black coffee may be the touchstone of them all!
   

Coffee: Part Three

      This morning I went to make a coffee. I have been brewing myself a coffee in the morning for about...well...a hundred years now, non-stop.
   In the olden days, I used to throw a coffee filter into the basket of my coffee maker, add as much of my favourite coffee as I wanted, a cup of tap water, turn on the coffeemaker and I was done.
   These days, I brew my coffee in a Keurig. You take a k-cup, throw it in the machine, press a button and in about thirty seconds you have a cup of coffee. And that's about as simple as it gets and, seemingly, way simpler than it used to be, with my coffee maker.
   Here are the catches, though.

My Keurig, in action.

  With a Keurig, you end up with a garbage can full of non-recyclable k-cups. The reservoir runs out about once a day and you have to either haul it to a water source or haul the water source to the reservoir. I use water from a Brita filter and filling the reservoir with Brita water completely empties the Brita pitcher. You cannot fill a Brita pitcher all at once--you need to wait for the first batch of water to drain through before you can put in the last batch. With a Keurig, you get one cup of coffee, which then immediately begins to cool. So that I can save a little money, we purchased re-usable k-cups which I then can fill with my favourite coffee  but I can only do this after I've emptied it out from the last time I used it and then rinsed it thoroughly.
   Okay. You tell me. Which system seems easier to you?
   If, by any chance, you replied "coffeemaker" then you might have something there.

In storage---at least temporarily.

   The other drawback to a Keurig is that it's a one-cup-at-a-time kind of a system. If there is only you and you only want one cup, then I guess this is okay. If, however, you have friends over or you're pulling an all-niter and anticipating needing several cups of coffee, then a Keurig becomes problematic.
   There is something both inviting and soothing about a brewed pot of coffee---the aroma tends to fill the house and even the sound of it brewing acts as a savoury precursor to the actual act of consuming the coffee. There is some comfort, as you drink, in knowing that more is waiting there for you, warmly, in the pot.
   So I am at a crossroads, coffee-drinking-wise. In the social scheme of things, it seems like a step backwards to return to the coffeemaker. Pretty well everywhere you go, there is a Keurig on a counter, sitting there, glistening. At the same time, I occasionally miss the "good ole days". Is there room for compromise---Keurigs and coffeemakers, side by side, on the same kitchen counter...?
   

Coffee: Part Two

   About a year and a half ago, I wrote a post called "Coffee", in which I waxed eloquently about my relationship with java. I actually just re-read it and I couldn't believe how much I actually had to say about the subject. If you really want to see what I mean by that, you can go here and take a gander.
   Well, my relationship with coffee has changed in the last three weeks.
   About three weeks ago, I went about eliminating as much of the extraneous sugar as I could from my diet. This, unfortunately, included the spoon-and-a-half to two spoonfuls of sugar and/or honey I regularly took in my coffee.
   I have also avoided the use of any kind of sweetener---in the past, they've either caused more problems than the sugar has or they've been extremely expensive. All I have in my coffee now is a little cream or milk.
   This all has changed the coffee experience for me greatly. Before the change, I looked forward to and relished the idea of sitting down to a cup. It had the power to at least briefly transport me away from whatever I was doing or, if not, at least accompany me on the journey as a trusted friend. Nowadays...not so.
   These days, this is what my face does when I take my first sip of coffee:

This is EXACTLY what my face looks
like when I drink sugar-less coffee.

   Eventually, the shock of sugar-less coffee wears off and I can finish the cup with a more-or-less normal look on my face. It does take a fair amount of willpower, though.
   So this begs the question---is it the coffee I used to enjoy? Or just the sugar?
   In spite of the fact that I'm not enjoying the coffee as much anymore, I'm still drinking about as much as I used to. When I look at all the sugarless drink options out there, none inspire me. When you have loved the best....
   Anyway, I do ask myself why I continue to drink it if I barely enjoy it anymore? Could be that I enjoy the companionship, as weird as that might sound. It might even be that simply having a mug at my side somehow completes me, regardless of the nature of its contents. Perhaps it's the warmth on my hands, who really knows? There is something almost visceral about reaching for a cup or mug without even needing to look at it because you always leave it the same distance from your arm and the handle is always turned to the exact point you need it to be at in order to grasp your coffee seamlessly and effortlessly, without thinking about it.
   As I write this, I have about two more sips left of this evening's coffee. It's cold now but not enough's left to bother heating it up. I'm drinking it out of my "mr. almost perfect" coffee mug and things almost are perfect.
   Except for the coffee...