Something out of Nothing

An excerpt from my book "Coffee Love" that I will be designing/writing to put in my final portfolio:

Coffee is the substance of comfort, love, and motivation. Its the first thing most of us think about in the morning and maybe even the last thing we think about when we go to sleep. If we get a bad cup of coffee at the beginning of our day, it becomes the first indicator of bad things to come. We need it. We crave it. Most of us have not a clue how to make it.
My first cup of coffee was drunk on a sunny morning in Paris when I was sixteen. I was so excited to try it in a foreign country. After the dark liquid was poured into my cup and I prepaired it with cream and sugar for the first time, I took my first sip and promptly spat it back out.  I tell that story and my friends are amazed because now, I cannot get enough of it. Half of my college education was spent inside various coffee shops of the little city of Raleigh, drinking cup after cup of whatever the blend of the day turned out to be. Some coffee was better than others and I often wondered why that was. Its just beans and water, right? 

Not in a millions years.
Later I took a job as a barista to help pay off those pesky student loans. I entered, however, a culture that would be apart of my life forever. 

I learned making coffee is like making childhood pancakes your mother made every Sunday morning. Or maybe like picking starberries outside on the perfect Spring morning. Everything has the be just right. The sad thing is here in America, thanks to the coorperate monsters (you know who you are!) the ideal way of making coffee has been smashed.
Coffee should be enjoyed slowly, sitting with a bunch of loved ones conversing about the day, instead of being broken down into the fastest way of consuming an eight-word- sugar infested mockery. Like any good thing in life, good coffee takes time and passion. 

In this book I wanted to share my knowledge of what it is to be swept away by what I affectionately call “Coffee Love”. Lots of things make up the world of coffee, such as the right type of beans, good water, conditions, and technique. There are others things like a calm additude, amazing people, good music and atmosphere. Pour all into your favorite mug, and enjoy!"