Dethroner has a cute little post about diner coffee. An excerpt:
Let me tell you why coffee — even the scalding devil’s spunk of truck stop pots — is a precious, positive force.
No one without hope ever drinks coffee. If you put a cup to your lips, you’ve made a tacit acknowledgment that you expect life to get just a little bit better. If you’re hung over, coffee is the first, scrambling step towards level. On the long road, coffee is the assumption that you’ll make a few more miles. Coffee is the signal to an antagonist world that you’re ready to stand up for one more day.
No other liquid, not even our Dread Lord Beer, carries with it so much implicit optimism. If beer is heaven, coffee is faith.
The next time you’re forced to choke back swill in lieu of a proper cup of hand-wrought coffee in full bouquet, try not to think of what you’re missing; instead appreciate the unadorned truth in your hand: a molten, metallic distillation of hope.
Dethroner’s recent series on coffee (beans, tasting, equipment, and general thoughts) has some good ideas in it. I recommend reading it if you’ve missed it (start with Why Not Great Coffee?). My favorite bit of pure entertainment from the group: video of making free-poured latte art.
