Tea Leaves: The Burr Under My Saddle

June 13, 2006

The Burr Under My Saddle

by peterb

This week I'm on vacation. While preparing for the trip, I had an interesting Shopping Moment that I'd like to share.

The moment involves coffee, as so many of them do.

I'm at the supermarket, and I'm going through my shopping list, and I get to the coffee aisle and realize that I'm going to need some. So I'm staring at my options — they even had a fair trade blend, which I ended up getting and may complain about later — and I grab a package of coffee.

Instinctively, I have picked up the whole bean coffee. I remember that the place I'm heading to doesn't have a coffee grinder, but I find myself standing there trying to work out how much effort it would take to pack my burr grinder and take it with me. Because, of course, the coffee will taste better if I grind it out in the middle of the woods instead of using pre-ground coffee.

It is then that the epiphany hits me like a wave. I am seriously considering packing a coffee grinder for a camping trip. I don't know how, and I don't know when, but at some point in my life I have apparently turned into a complete yuppie cock.

I put the whole bean back, and picked up a package of ground coffee.

(We will omit the discussion about packing the laptop and connecting to the Internet from the road. I lost that battle long ago, and am utterly at peace with it.)

Posted by peterb at June 13, 2006 10:00 AM | Bookmark This

Comments

You haven't become a yuppie cock until "camping" is a one-day event spent at the upscale Verdant Acres Outdoor-Type Resort with designer sleeping bags, 24/7 Internet access provided by the sattelite in your SUV, and enough bugspray to annihilate every crawling or flying critter in a five-mile radius.

Posted by Tom Ault at June 13, 2006 10:25 AM

Timothy Leary's signature: Obtaining it began the process of extinguishing your soul.

Posted by I know when! at June 13, 2006 02:11 PM

If you aren't bringing a blow dryer, it's camping.

Posted by Kim at June 13, 2006 02:52 PM

Obviously you just need one of these grinders, then you don't have to feel bad about taking it camping: http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442591313&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302696295&bmUID=1150233473705

Good coffee is too important to worry about whether having it makes you a yuppie cock or not.

Posted by ncodding at June 14, 2006 02:12 AM

Zassenhaus makes a hand grinder suitable for everything from Turkish to press. It's small, cylindrical and works like a charm with a travel press pot. Anything but pre-ground. Can prolly find a Zassenhaus on eBay.

Posted by spro at June 20, 2006 10:37 AM

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