Morning Coffee

It's Sunday. I'm up far too early. It's a balmy three degrees. All I wanted was my cup of coffee and then to attempt to get some work done. Weekend mornings at this hour suck!

Why get up so early? It probably has everything to do with my pesky cats who pawed open lower cupboards in search of their kitty high. I'd bought a new bag of catnip for them and they were determined to find it. Unfortunately, our younger cat is all too clever at opening cupboards and she found it. I came downstairs to find a torn apart bag of catnip all over my floor and two very stoned cats attempting to look innocent.

Once I'd cleaned the gritty mess off the floor, I gave up on any thought of returning to bed. Instead, I decided to try the latest coffee in a round of tests...

Years ago, I stopped drinking items with caffeine. It was felt that my anxiety, besides being genetic, might be related to caffeine intake. I stopped drinking coffee and discovered it made a big difference. Any coffee addict who has given up caffeine knows that decaf coffee can be horrendous! I've spent years going through brands that are worthy of purchasing.

Dunkin Donuts - one of my favored caffeine brands - makes a lousy decaf usually. The coffee definitely has bitter, almost sour, after tones. Unless you ask them to make a fresh pot from freshly ground beans, don't count on a good cup of decaf.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is what I drink the most - Paul Newman's blend is the best to me. I want to say it is called Special Roast decaf - but it is his organic blend of decaf. The price, however, is a bit of a pain. $6 for a 12 oz bag.

My sister-in-law started drinking decaf a few months ago and swears by a newer VT company - Vermont Coffee Roasters - out of Bristol, VT. It is expensive stuff. For the price you pay, it should be liquid gold! For Christmas, I splurged and treated myself to a pound bag of their decaf Columbian. $13 per pound. How disappointing! While the coffee tastes okay, it isn't as good as Green Mountain. Worse yet, I find that if you do not double the amount of coffee, you get a weak tasting pot. For a pot, I tend to use between 1/2 cup to 3/4 cups of beans (estimating my measurements, I really fill the beans to the top of my grinder's metal rim and then grind away) and then grind them up. With this Vermont Coffee Roasters, I grind one batch of coffee beans, pour them into the filter, and then grind a second batch. So I'm using double the amount of beans to get a normal pot of coffee. That makes it a wasteful coffee to me.

Starbucks - not a big fan of their coffee - the decaf is bitter. Speeder and Earls (another local company) is another of my favorites! It's a little pricier, but definitely worth it.

Yesterday, I decided to try Costco (Kirkland's) decaf arabica. I purchased the three pound canister for $8. Usually, I'll buy the whole beans, but I felt it was a better idea to spend less and see if it is worth it before investing the additional $6. I guess I'm more comfortable throwing out $8 worth of coffee over $14. I did realize that being pre-ground, it might be the best coffee, but I want something that tastes like coffee without the bitter aftertaste. This Kirkland coffee isn't bad. Very smoky and better than some of the other coffees I've had. I can't wait to try the whole beans!