in between bites & sips ...

thanks for stopping by! here's where i put various thought, quotes or stories. most will be brief, some may be extended - but all will be somehow connected to my world. enjoy your stay!



Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Freshness DOES Matter

I've never considered myself a coffee aficionado: I don't like flavored coffees, I don't care what name brand I buy & I don't care how you prepare it.

So, you can imagine my confusion when some would complain because they felt their coffee wasn't 'fresh'. I've got coffee in my closet dating back to 2001 - mainly from hotel rooms where it is my custom to make sure I get a new packet every single day, whether I drink the coffee or not.

I've also heard that coffee keeps better in the fridge. Meh. Probably an old wives tale.

Well - that's what I USED to think.

Along with my collection from the Hampton & Holiday Inns, and the odd Maxwell House other miscellaneous gifted containers of coffee that I haven't consumed yet move from home to home like furniture - there was a container of Tim Hortons coffee.

Tim Hortons is the standard of excellence for coffee in Canada (much like Starbucks in the US ... only better!). I had been carefully saving this rare brew since I figured there would be weeks, nay months where I could not have Timmy's coffee again now that I live in Ohio.

That was until Thanksgiving when my family came over and promptly drank almost all of it(while complaining of its lack of freshness), leaving me what I considered to be enough grounds for 5 more cups of coffee. I was somewhat disappointed since surely they had no idea that was ordinary for my Canadian family, was golden to me!

But, my disappointment quickly dissipated when the very next week I made a trip to Columbus where I found (you guessed it!) a TIM HORTONS!!!! There, sitting on a shelf, calling out to me, was a brand new can of Tim Hortons coffee that I could take home and consume (NO MORE RATIONS!).

I get home. I open the new tin. The aroma of the grounds fills the kitchen.

Wait a sec! I haven't smelled this since ... since ... since ... since I opened my last new tin of Tim Hortons!

That pot of coffee was absolutely wonderful. Yes. I drank a pot of coffee!

And, as I was cleaning up and putting the tins away, I was about to pour the remaining 5 cups worth of grounds from the old tin into the new tin when I froze.

"Do I really want to contaminate this glorious, new, fresh tin of coffee with the old stale stuff?" I had never thrown out grounds of coffee even once in my life! Would I do it now?

After tasting the fresh stuff, there was no turning back. Not only did I throw out the old Tim Hortons - but much of my old stock of miscellaneous hotel coffees (not all, I do need an emergency reserve, you know!).

This does make me think about our walk with God. Have we settled on the old, stale relationship we had yesterday? Or are we searching for a new, fresh word from Him? It's no wonder so many are turned off of 'church' when 'church' has lost its freshness.

From now on, not only will it be fresh coffee for me every morning, but fresh worship of God for me every morning too!

1 comment:

MJLM said...

I wish they could can some cups of Tim Hortons' tea with milk and sugar! Tim Hortons rocks!