The Coffee Brown Shade of Joy

Getting up in the morning has never been an easy task for me. Despite trying hard, I have not been able to find a reason to blame my alarm clock too.

As soon as the virtual alarm screams, I jump, sit and with a swift motion I reach for my phone and I decisively “dismiss” the alarm and place myself back on the bed exactly as I had been, to continue my sleep.

I have tried alternatives including keeping my phone in the farthest corner of the room but a little walk never cost me my sleep. I have upgraded my alarm notification from birds chirping to sirens wailing but it only accelerated the pace in which I accomplish my task.

I also sought help from my husband, but after being subjected to such disrespectful dismissals, he spared his phone from further humiliation and also branded me an “alarm killing ninja”.

It is the door bell from my maid that became the inevitable alarm that I couldn’t dismiss or even snooze, the mere thought of the chores would prevent me from falling asleep.

I then wake up to a morning routine which can be described best as a frenzied multitasking characterised by a sense of guilt and dismay. Amidst the morning rush, my morning brew, which is usually tea, is left forgotten half way.

Though my morning brew is tea, I love coffee more. But I consider coffee a luxury that I avail when I am sitting in a cafe with ample time to enjoy it slowly. Starbucks and Barista gives me the leisure to experience the coffee and appreciate the layers of milk, cream and coffee beans which is elevated with the good company of a book.

But nothing gives me more pleasure than consuming a concoction of Filter Coffee. Most of the places where one can get a strong filter coffee are usually crowded. Even if you manage to get that hot and frothy filter coffee in its signature holder, your stars must align for you to find a place to sit with it in the coffee joints.

But be it while standing on a pavement or sitting on the edge of a plank, once I take a sip of this heady mix I forget what surrounds me and I levitate to a perfect world of aroma and flavour. Filter coffee is a concoction of joys which is relished by my taste buds and neuron cells equally. For me, filter coffee is a therapy.

It is during a visit to a famous outlet that I chanced to observe the coffee counter and saw the label of the filter coffee they were using. But I would need a filter to prepare the decoction which I did not have. Being the coffee obsessed person I am, as soon as I received my first salary, a few years back, I bought a coffee machine. I am still unsure about what went wrong – whether it was the imported coffee beans or the deceptively simple coffee maker. But after that incident I did not venture for more experiments. But I was now getting settled in Karnataka, where Filter Coffee is a pride. I decided to give it one more try at making filter coffee at home.

I spoke to many friends and learned about the different brands available for filter coffee, from ones homemade to the commercially popular ones. Finally the discussion became fruitful and the solution to my problem was delivered by Amazon at a very reasonable price – a filter and a good filter coffee powder.

I inaugurated the first coffee therapy session at home with a heady mix of strong filter coffee from my very own kitchen. I love how simple beautiful things can actually be. All you need is to boil water and pour it over the coffee granules and wait eagerly for the magic to concoct. Yes, the Genie likes the eagerness!

Creating filter coffee was like discovering a whole new joy altogether. The filter is a manual one but I know when my decoction is done when my kitchen is redolent with the strong aroma of coffee. Watching the decoction turn the humble while milk into the perfect coffee brown is a visual treat indeed. The best part is that I can choose the tumbler and I have opted for a one that is more liberal towards the quantity of my coffee. Having coffee and making coffee, both are enjoyable alike for me now. It is a process where haste does not augur well. It is a therapy that sets everything right in my day.

Now, as the alarm goes, I jump up in my bed and dismiss it, after which I get ready to step into my kitchen. My morning brew is now filter coffee for which I make time for! The thought of indulging in concocting and savouring filter coffee is what gets me out of bed in the morning now.

Who said that getting up in the morning is a herculean task? It is a joy, a coffee brown shade of joy!