First 15 Minutes

Somewhere I read a few months ago that coffee tastes best when consumed within the first 15 minutes of brewing.  I love coffee.  I've tried to quit it many times but I always come back for my chicory fix.  It's warm, tasty, and reminds me of sitting in Cafe du Monde in New Orleans with Folsom.  Yes, dogs are allowed on the patio.  (By now you should have realized that I'm a nostalgic girl.)  As much as I love coffee, I couldn't imagine it tasting better.  Already I considered it black gold in a mug.

The first time I brewed a pot of my favorite Cafe du Monde blend, I was eager to test the 15 minute-theory.  The taste was terrific, but even my hour-old cup was heavenly.  HourS-old was icky, as it always had been.  Think scorched vinegar--yuck!  The real difference I noted between less-than-15-minutes old coffee and, say, 30-60 minute coffee, was the aroma.  Not just from the cup, from the coffee maker.  While the coffee is brewing, this warm, earthy -- almost peppery -- fragrance rises from the 'maker.  Sip a cup then and you definitely get a more robust flavor.

I was up past midnight writing, researching, bleeping around on facebook.  This morning around 5am I was being serenaded by my 2-yr-old: "Mommy back...Mommy back..."  She was thirsty, she needed to use the potty, she wanted to read...really, she just wanted to be with me.  I love that child.  It was still sleeptime not playtime, I explained.  Finally at 6am she fell asleep.  I could have crawled back into bed, too.  The sky was getting lighter -- I could see lovely billowy clouds marching like parade floats across the sky.  How could I miss out on nature's spectacular display?

Sun is coming up and I'm here, writing and watching, toasting my less-than-15-minutes-old java to the less-than-15-minutes-old sunrise.  Sleep schmeep.