The Coffee Drinker's Dilemma

There is a problem I address on a daily basis first thing in the morning. It can be summed up with one word:

Coffee.

If you are a coffee drinker, you are familiar with the dilemma.

How do you successfully make coffee when you have not yet had a cup of coffee?

I stand in the kitchen, bleary eyed, befuddled, clumsy, trying desperately to remember how to brew a pot of coffee.

And as I stand there, hapless and dim witted at the kitchen counter, I survey my options.

I could pour the dregs of yesterday's pot into a cup and reheat it. That would solve the brew-before-drinking problem. But then I start my day with old, mediocre coffee, when what I really want is a delicious and satisfying fresh cup .

If I'd thought ahead, I could have set up the coffee maker last night--ground the beans and set them in the basket, and poured the water into the resevoir. But that isn't ideal either, as the brew tastes best when the beans are freshly ground, rather than sitting out in the filter overnight.

I could go to the trouble of going out to get coffee. Surely there is a gourmet coffee shop or a gas station nearby. But then I have to get dressed, and find shoes, and keys, and money. And I have to navigate the outside world--before actually drinking the coffee. Again, problematic.

Most mornings, I fumble through the motions of placing a filter in the basket, filling it with ground coffee, pouring in the water, and turning on the pot. Then I stand solemnly, almost worshipfully, as the blessed beverage brews before me. Then, with a textbook Pavlovian response, I reach for the pot as soon as the indicator bell sounds and the coffee is ready.