Home of the 3-509th UMT

There are some things in life which make sense.  Steering wheels, spoons, and shoelaces fit into this category.  Then there is the bottomless cup of coffee.  In Springfield, Missouri, where I went to seminary, there is a coffee house which offers this optional beverage for those who feel they may hang out a while.  I don't know how many gallons I drank a day for only $2.00 a visit, but it sure helped my grades.  It is crazy to offer some people a bottomless coffee, especially with free high-speed wireless internet access, but the owners of the Mudhouse thought it would be a good idea.  Definitely my drink of choice, I pay tribute to the bottomless cup of coffee from the Mudhouse of Springfield, MO.  

This section is simply an ode to good coffee.  I guess there needed to be an outlet for my coffee rants, and this seemed to be a good place.  There may not be much in the way of life changing ideas and concepts, but if you can enjoy reading about anything coffee related, I think this area won't disappoint you!

FIrst off, my coffee story...
When I was fairly young, I asked my mom for a sip of her coffee.  She assured me I wouldn't like it, but gave me an opportunity anyway.  After sipping the dark brew, I gave a big, "yumm!" to which my mother replied, "Oh you're just saying that!"

"No, really" I claimed, hoping she'd believe me.  I did really like it as indicated by the warm mug next to me right now.  That was like yesterday.

In junior high, corruption occurred with the initial taste of "eXpresso" as I called it then.  Over at a friends house, we made something similar to coffee out of a steam powered Krups machine.  Brewed in a batch of 4 cups or so, it kept us up all hours of the night playing music and attempting our hand at videography.  

High school started the real specialty coffee experience.  An espresso cart opened across the street from the school in the food-court of the mall.   The first time I ordered a double espresso, no sugar or additives of any kind, the guy asked, "are you sure you want to do that?"

A year or so later, a coffee house opened downtown.  There, I learned from the neon sign it was "espresso" not "expresso!"  At this point, I started drinking café lattes, and other milk based beverages.  I also started getting to know the owner and learned a bit about the espresso business from someone direct from Seattle's booming espresso market.

The college years started me on a path to brewing my own, but mostly, I helped fund the first 5 years of the first Starbucks in Minneapolis.   I did find a decent pump driven espresso machine from a local home-ware place.  I also needed a grinder to place along side the new beauty.  Combined I spent a little less than $300, and with those opened an espresso bar of sorts in my dorm room.  I did have a menu and kept my floor-mates rather happy with all kinds of neat drinks.

I started subscribing to "Specialty Coffee Retailer" and "Coffee and Tea Journal" the later of which has changed to a trade journal.  After my room-mate started working at the Starbucks we frequented, he introduced me to a wonderful brewing method known as the "press pot," or "French press."  I bought one and nearly forgot about any other method of brewing.  Somewhere during this timeframe, my favorite espresso drink became the "Americano."  The old pump machine just wasn't cutting it anymore, and rarely did the brew look like commercially available espresso, with the coveted crema.

In 2004, the world of fine coffee came home with a Francis! Francis! X-1 espresso machine.  Although I still ran the 8 year old grinder, it became clear the quest for good espresso at home was nearly complete.

Just then and for graduating from seminary, my in-laws gave the ultimate gift of any home espresso connoisseur.  The still unbeatable Mazzer Mini grinder!  To this day I still walk into the kitchen and can barely believe the Mazzer Mini is staring back.  Really, this machine is the ultimate in home/small commercial coffee grinding experience.  I still can't get over this one.  So that's where it ends, Gloria and I drinking the best Café Americanos ever created.