Amy Foster Coffee Connoisseur

I've sipped with many people over the years, and in many places. In coffee shops, airports, and even bars; during class, driving through the night, or day; on my couch, at my kitchen table, at my computer, and on a sailboat; before weddings, funerals, and going to bed. I've sipped through tears, and peals of laughter. With best friends, and total strangers. I'm a sipping slut. I'll drink coffee anywhere, anytime, and with anyone. But, the years have taught me that a good cup can be hard to find. I've always been flexible, though, so I have also learned how to take a horrid cup and make it good. A spoonful of honey, Sugar in the Raw, cream, or as I found in the Bahamas, sweetened condensed milk are excellent partners at these times. When it comes down to it, sometimes there is truth in the statement "coffee is coffee."

If my friends offer me a cup of coffee, it's with a moment of hesitancy. Or dread. Most of those who offer have had coffee at my house, and I guess they know I have a standard. And while I'm not ashamed to admit to anyone that I am indeed a "coffee snob," it doesn't mean that I won't commune with lesser beans. In many of these situations, I've ended up making the coffee, even if it's Folger's, because they insist that I'll make it better than they will.

Some of them get nervous watching me drink the contents of the pot with the exception of their cup. I'm not only addicted, I'm attached. literally. I'm the coffee girl. If I'm not drinking it, I'm scooping it. Or buying my groceries with the money I've made from scooping it. And always, always smelling of it - unless I've just emerged from the shower and am instead saturated with soapy smells. But that only lasts a few minutes. I can be clean as a whistle, and smell like coffee (or maple syrup or pancakes, which are other options snatched up by curious noses).

Coffee is an essential part of me; it's brought me friends, early morning and late night buzzes, an income, hobby, and pleasure. It's part of my identity, and I like that, just as much as a fresh cup of Kenya from my kitchen.