The Best Part Of Waking Up

I wake up to an alarm on my phone that plays my favorite song every morning. After rolling out of bed and shutting the alarm off, I open the curtains in my bedroom, make my way to the kitchen, and get the coffee from my automatic maker programmed to start brewing five minutes before my alarm. I then make my way to my front room, sit at my dining table, and listen to the news while catching up on email and social media. It's boring, but I don't want anything too exciting until I wake up a bit.

While checking Facebook this morning I noticed five years ago today I'd posted a status that read:

If the best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup you might want to reevaluate the priorities in your life or, at the very least, try better coffee.

If you know me, you know I like massive burritos, good beer, and good coffee. I've been known to haunt coffee shops for hours at a time and have even amassed tabs in excess of $100-- just from black coffee-- so it'd make sense that I would turn my nose up at the notion of drinking anything brewed from pre-ground stuff in that red can. However, it wasn't that long ago that money was pretty tight. It was during the holidays and my finances were a little tied up, so some sacrifices had to be made, notably with my coffee budget, so I folded and went for Folgers.

It parallels my coffee drinking experience as a whole, really; when I was in high school I started drinking coffee (specifically Starbucks "Breakfast Blend" if I remember right). It was too bitter and hot for my liking, so I cut it with milk and sugar. As I went through college money started getting tight, so I opted to cut out the milk and just stick with sugar. After awhile, sugar became an expense I didn't want to maintain, so I started drinking it black. Even after my money got right I still took my coffee black, and after an independent coffee house opened not too far from where I lived I discovered what really good black coffee could be like. After that, I sought out the best I could get my hands on.

There's nothing wrong with having preferences, but it's pretentious to turn your nose up to something because it's cheap or assumed to be "lesser." It isn't like I had freshly ground, freshly roasted beans brewing a French press every morning so I can fully appreciate the oils and aroma of a particular roast. I also don't run up egregious tabs at my local coffee shop anymore either. I grind okay coffee ahead of time and normally use it within a few days, and it usually is made with a paper filter in an automatic drip machine. Folgers got the job done, especially when that job was being a warm beverage in the middle of December.

I guess having Folgers did actually help me reevaluate the priorities in my life. It was one of the best parts of waking up because I didn't have to fuss over it and it wasn't the focus on my entire morning. I like the process of making a really good cup of coffee, don't get me wrong, but sometimes all I want to do the first thing in the morning is wake up, and cheap coffee serves that purpose. I'm not a total convert to cheap coffee but I can at least not be an insufferable snob about what's brewing in my house when I wake up.