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Introduction

I am about one year from retirement and looking forward to a time when I can finally relax and travel. In my thirty years as a teacher I've hardly had a moment where teaching wasn't in the front of my mind. I just have that kind of personality or mental illness where I can't stop thinking about, planning, researching, worrying about my job. But that's a story for another day.

Lets talk about coffee. I honestly don't remember a time when I did not drink coffee. I've joked that my mom gave it to me in a bottle when I was an infant, but it's not really that far fetched. From my earliest years I remember drinking coffee. My mother never served anything but the instant kind, which probably ruined my palate, along with the generous milk and excessive sugar that was added to it. I never gave much thought to coffee flavor. It was always more of a caffeine delivery system and as long as it wasn't awful or undrinkable I was ok with it. 

And then Starbucks happened. More accurately, something happened around the time Starbucks appeared. In New York, at least, a number of specialty coffee shops opened up before Starbucks and offered something better than diner coffee in the early 90s. There was a small neighborhood coffee shop in the Columbia University neighborhood where I lived at the time called Coopers that was eventually replaced by a Starbucks.  When I moved to Washington Heights there was another hole in the wall cafe, Helene's, around the corner from me that eventually folded but they served nice coffee. It is now home to a successful local shop called Buuni, serving delicious Ethiopian roasts.  When Starbucks took over the world I was an early fan and discovered some nice coffees through them. I have since moved on and only go there if nowhere else is available. 

I have no background in coffee roasting or any other aspect of the business. I am a heavy user of caffeine and I know what I like. I know when a coffee tickles all my taste buds and olfactory receptors. What I don't know is how to describe what I am tasting or to separate all the myriad flavors and aromas that make up a good cup of coffee. I will endeavor to develop this skill over the course of my coffee shop oriented travels. This is my coffee journey.

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