Warden's morning coffee

I sit here this morning, the aroma of coffee brewing tickling my sinuses. I anxiously await that first sip of the dark life giving elixir. The smell of coffee always awakens memories of my childhood.

My maternal grandpa used to “saucer” his coffee. (That’s how I learned to slurp!) Grandma had one of them Pyrex percolators that set on the stove burner. I loved watching how that worked! You could watch as the water worked up through the stem and flowed back down through the grounds to the urn. Then when the water turned just the right color, she would remove it from the flame and pour grandpa his morning drink.

My paternal granddad always carried a thermos of it where ever he went. And I can still remember on fishing trips, him taking off that stainless steel cup from the thermos and pouring it full, steam rising in the cool morning. Him sitting there sipping as he watched his fishing poles.

Mom and dad always had a pot brewing of a morning. Mom made the best coffee I ever drank. And it was made in a Westinghouse stainless steel percolator Dad had gotten somewhere. They always had it for breakfast and any evening if we had company! I wonder what ever happened to percolators?

I remember when I was in high school, several of us boys would go hunting or fishing. We always packed the “Cains” so we could have “Cowboy coffee” on our trip. We would go out and camp on the Pecos River. The next morning we would get a can of river water, bring to a boil on the campfire and stir in a handful of Cains coffee grounds. It always smelled so good! But tasted HORRIBLE!

However we drank it like MEN! We would sit there on a log, staring at the fire and lie about how good the coffee was this morning. We sure didn’t want to admit that the “Cowboy coffee” tasted somewhere between battery acid and road tar. And you sipped REAL SLOW cause you were hoping that someone else would finish off the coffee before you got done. (It was unacceptable to turn down a second cup if available!)

I did a little research this morning on coffee. Did you realize coffee was first found by some Arab goat herder? Really blew my fantasy! I thought some Juan or Pepe or Pedro from Brazil would get the honors! Click here to read the facts.

Well, my coffee just got done and I took my first sip of the warden’s morning coffee. Dang, I do wonder where that woman gets Pecos River water to make her coffee!!!! Or maybe I need to find her a Westinghouse or Pyrex percolator! She needs some help for sure on making coffee!
Dennis