Coffee snob alert

Firstly, the storm passed, as do all storms. It was a typical spring snowstorm, and not the blizzard reported by NWS and the climate experts of the so-called news media.

Before.

We got about three inches of snow. It started as rain at about 0300, morphed into light snow and wind about 0500, and continued for about 11 more hours. Yes the blowing snow reduced visibility and covered the roads. No, it wasn't a blizzard. There just wasn't that much snow, or that much blow, you could see to navigate, and the temperature never fell below 28 degrees. Typical spring snow storm. Nothing to get hysterical about.

During. That viz is well over a quarter-mile.

A real blizzard as defined back in the days of reality and before all-in professional victimhood had to include heavy snow and winds in excess of 50 mph producing zero to 50 yards visibility for at least 12 hours. NOAA and NWS have redefined the term blizzard over the last few years, reducing the wind speed to 35 mph, increasing visibility to a quarter-mile, and reducing the duration to three hours. Now everybody who's seen snow has been in a blizzard! Isn't that special? Now everybody can be a victim of a natural disaster and have another ready-made excuse for low self-esteem!

I don't blame NOAA and NWS. They only do what the willfully ignorant and savagely self-victimized allow them to do.

During. Very pretty. Not a blizzard.

Whoops, didn't plan that rant excursion. It just happened. Someone else's fault.

However, when the mild spring snowstorm had passed, it was right pretty out there.

Morning sunshine...from the west? Yep, reflected from a window across the street.

Cool, yes?

The drifts weren't even Nona-tall.

Horned lark and three inches of new snow.

##########

And now, on to the main feature!

Okay, the post title is a false alarm. Just a sloppy hook to lure you in.

I'm not a coffee snob. Don't want to be a coffee snob. I just like to have really good coffee in the morning.

Howsoever, I've been putting up with crap coffee for a lot of years now. Red can columbian. I guess it's always been okay, kindasorta, more or less. It's hot and it tastes like coffee and it's got caffeine in it. Pretty bland though. 

We've got a little coffee-sammich-pizza joint in town called Java Blend. They have really, really good coffee. At least as far as I'm concerned. When I get a cup of joe there, I always get a double espresso. That's how I like my coffee, extra dark and extra coffee-strong.

I prefer, though, to get up in the morning and get coffee down my neck before I leave the humble abode. My preferred ritual is to get up, put the coffee on, conduct morning ablutions, then peruse the email queue whilst sipping a large cuppa.

I've been wondering for some time whether it would be worth the effort and expense to procure beans and a grinder. I used to do that, many moons ago, when I was shacked up with a smokin' hot chick back in my seafarin' days. I liked that coffee very much. Smokin' Hot got the coffee equipment in the settlement though, and I haven't seen a whole bean since.

The idea percolated (heh) for some time. Then a certain confluence of events occurred which seemed to indicate a path forward. First, I watched a bunch of Dances With Wolves clips on the interwebs.



I also began re-reading Nathan Lowell's Quarter Share. And finally, somewhere I stumbled across Black Rifle Coffee Company. So I decided to give it a whirl. I bought a grinder and a new coffee maker and ordered up some beans.

And it worked. Took some trial and error to find the right combination of roast and grind, but eventually I hit the sweet spot. Now I'm enjoying really good coffee every morning. Thinking about procuring an espresso machine.

I like these guys and I like their coffee. I like their gun rights advocacy. So win-win-win in my book. They're pretty funny, too.