Quick Before I Get Sidetrack'd

Early in my blogging career I mentioned (here) that Matt and I are self-deemed coffee snobs. I bring it up again now because the level of snobbery just keeps increasing.

For Christmas Matt received a French press coffee maker and coffee grinder. The French press makes the best cup of coffee EVER. And when the coffee is made with fresh ground beans of our favorite locally roasted coffee? Mmmm…a little taste of heaven.

This coffee is so good that our weekly (at least) Starbuck’s visits have decreased to a couple times a month. Snobs? Why yes, we are.

[Disclaimer: this coffee brewing method is not for the faint of heart; it makes a strong cup of coffee. However, if you like it strong I would definitely recommend trying it.]

In this corner, we have a desire to be budget conscious and lower expenses where we can. And in this corner, we have an addiction to intense like for a great cup of bold flavor, dark-roasted coffee.

It was confirmed again this week that Matt and I are coffee snobs. This is something that I readily admit as it has been shown again and again over the last few years. There is nothing like waking up to that great aroma of good, fresh coffee awaiting you. Several months ago we discovered organic, fair-trade, locally roasted beans that make a wonderful pot or two cup of strong, rich coffee.

So, that brings us to the frugality mentioned above. We decided that, since our favorite coffee runs about $9 for 12 ounces, we would try a less expensive brand for day to day drinking and reserve the best for occasional consumption. At the grocery last week, Matt selected a great smelling vanilla flavored coffee; it was a brand that we have had before and liked moderately well. Let’s just say that the creamer and sugar (or Splenda in Matt’s case) have been used to mask the flavor of the coffee instead of enhance it. In the beginning we thought we just didn’t brew it strong enough, but after several additional attempts it still didn’t work for us.

The results of this little experiment in frugality can be summed up in Matt’s comment Tuesday evening: “I’ve decided that coffee is not an area where we can cut spending.”