coffee and more coffee...

Once upon a time, Sophie suggested that I write a post about my coffee shop observations. It was a good idea (she has many good ideas!), but one that I never seemed to have gotten around to. The next time I went out for coffee, I even brought my camera with me so that I could take a photo of where I was writing from. I took this picture several months ago--before there was even snow.

Today I am sitting in the same coffee shop. The sky is the exact same color grey. The only thing that seems to have changed is the table that I'm sitting at and new artwork on the walls. There is a fire burning in the round fireplace in the middle of the room. Cooler temperatures have returned and I am thankful for whatever chilliness remains. Soon it will be hot and muggy outside and I will again be wishing for winter.

I like this coffee shop. I like the broken plaster and brick walls. I like the warm-painted concrete floors. I like the big windows that look out towards a city that is beginning to feel more and more like home to me. I like the interesting mix of people that surround me...a girl writing in a notebook with aqua blue ink, the guy reading a hardcover copy of Tolstoy, the two girls who look like they are meeting over creative plans, the greasy haired musician burning CDs on his laptop, the weird guy whose legs are bouncing so violently I wonder if he might just fall out of his skin... It is busy and quiet in here all at the same time.

I've been wanting to write about a lot of things lately, but haven't seemed to be able to make the time for it...or something.

It's been an enjoyable week of taking care of my sister's kids, personal extravagances, and forward movement. I woke up early on Monday with heavy feet. The hours at work dragged by slowly until late morning when the bookstore matriarch (as I like to refer to her as on this blog) bought us all a round of Kopi Luwak in celebration of the warm spring weather.

What's Kopi Luwak, you ask??

Well, Kopi Luwak is THE. BEST. CUP. OF. COFFEE. I. HAVE. EVER. HAD!!!

It is also the world's most exotic and expensive coffee. And did this little extravagance turn my day around? Why, yes! It sure did!

Next door to the bookstore is a little tiny coffee shop. It is owned by an older gentleman named Jim. There are no tables or chairs to sit at, but there's an antique roaster and floor to ceiling coffee beans from all over the world--varieties that I've never even heard of. Yep, that's Jim on the right. Because of Jim's little shop, the entire neighborhood smells of roasting coffee--and it is the most welcoming scent that has ever entered my nostrils. He has, by far, the best tasting coffee I have ever experienced (rivaled only by an espresso I once had in Paris!).

Anyway, the best coffee that they offer is Kopi Luwak. And it sells for $420.00 per pound! Yes, FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY DOLLARS per POUND!!

Ok...so it puts the coffee I'm drinking right now to shame. My GOD, I felt like I had DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN!!!

PURE COFFEE ORGASM!!!

Did I just say that? Yes! It's true!! Not only did it TASTE good, but oh, the HIGH! I drink a lot of coffee and, for that matter, I drink a lot of good coffee...but oh my...nothing ever like that. The flavor actually floated! It was so incredibly smoooooth....it floated right off the middle of my tongue and into my head. I have never felt so good in my life (well, from coffee anyway! ha!). Even the caffeine high was smooth (smooth like a velvet rainbow?). Shortly after finishing my cup of the-most-wonderful-cup-of-coffee-ever, my shift at work came to an end. I walked down sunshiny streets with my feet barely touching the ground. I stopped by the coffee shop to thank Phil (good-ol-Phil-the-poet) who was working that day, to say say thanks for making the coffee and to tell him how good it not only tasted, but felt! For noticing the difference, he said that I could be considered a "coffee intellectual" and dubbed me "part of the club." ha! I'm a coffee intellectual! I'm part of the club! :)-

Sitting here, I feel like a traitor writing about Monday's cup of coffee. Sorry, Dunn Bros.--but your coffee doesn't even come close!

Anyway, a little bit about Kopi Luwak coffee...do you want to know what makes it so expensive? Well, first of all it's an Indonesian coffee. It's eaten by an animal known as a palm civet (aka "Luwak"). The partially digested beans are then excreted on the ground and after a (most thorough) cleaning process, are ready to be roasted.

Ok, so it sounds pretty gross...but who knew that something so good could come from SHIT!

Since I had the afternoon off, I decided to prolong the luxuriousness of the day and went on my 4th artist's date. A haircut at an Aveda salon (ooh, yum...i love aveda!) and then shopping for some new clothes (well, ok...cheap clothes at Target. haha! i have $420.00 per pound taste in coffee, but am on a $9.99 per shirt budget!). I keep putting off buying new clothes until I lose weight--but, in the meantime, I've been wearing the same 3 or 4 outfits over and over and over. Gah!

I'm glad I decided to dedicate part of the day to spoiling myself because, man, I feel so much better! I like my hair. I like my new clothes (all 2 shirts!). And I feel a little bit like a new person...which is a good thing! I've been in sort of a running-in-place-and-not-getting-anything-done-mode for much too long now. Yesterday I made a list of things to do (a rather long list) and accomplished EVERYTHING on it!! Let me just point out that, that NEVER happens. AND I even had time to sit outside with wolfie and read the chapter for Finding Water. It was so wonderfully, sunshiny warm!

And today...well, today is my day off. I spent the morning taking care of my sister's kids (which included taking my 6 year old niece out for hot chocolate and a donut before dropping her off at school. how much fun is that?! :)), some time to write these words here...and now I'm on to some serious thesis work! This week I am working hard to find a sense of balance. And you know what? So far, so good!

Today I am thankful for:

• good coffee
• a nice boss
• warm weather
• cool weather
• incredible sunsets
• my niece
• my nephew
• new clothes
• new hair
  
• interesting people
• friends--you know, your always on my mind!
• good music
• inspiring art
• this blog
  
• being a part of neighborhoods that i love
• words
• work
• dreams
  
• this moment!