My relationship with coffee has evolved over the years. Most blog readers probably associate me with carrying a big-ass vacuum thermos of coffee into work and drinking it over the course of a day. And almost never washing out my coffee mug. If that's your impression it might astonish you to hear that many days now I only have a single cup (not mug, single cup) of coffee and at most I have two cups in a day. For a while I had a Senseo (there was a post about that back on Pic-A-Day when I ran that) and nowadays I use plain old French press which just generates a cup or so. I ultimately bought a larger French press that can make three cups at once for when I have guests who want coffee but now I just make one cup, then drink one cup. Simple.
Reasons? Well the reasons are legion. I'm more caffeine sensitive now. I suspect that's a mix of drinking less coffee and getting older but it's tough to separate the two there. If you know me as that "drinking a pot from a thermos" guy you also know me as a the guy who pops Tums all days. Guess what? Less black coffee means less stomach acid. Science! Also as I wrote on the defunct photo-blog I got weirdly OCD about "if I brew a pot of coffee I drink the whole thing". Switching to the Senseo meant I brewed coffee one cup at at time so drinking the "whole thing" was no longer a deal, but it also meant I was drinking mediocre coffee. Switching to the French press meant I could make good coffee and still only make one cup at a time.
OK, swell. Now I just need coffee beans. For a while I was trekking up to Orchard Valley Coffee to buy beans but that's a whole drive and crosses the 17 traffic and can be icky at the wrong time of day. Then for quite a long time I went to the local coffee shop (Lime Tree Espresso) that sources beans from Barefoot Coffee. This was a Good System™. Problem is that the local store is pretty much a one–man shop and sometimes he is just closed unexpectedly. About three weeks ago I went one day and found out he had started closing Tuesdays at noon. I went Wednesday at 2 PM and he was just "out until 2:30". At which point I had to go buy Cthulhu–knows–how–old Peet's beans from the Safeway. Enough. It's 2012, can't I just buy good coffee beans from Amazon and have somebody ship them to my hermetically sealed house of Board Games 'n Code Development™?
Well I didn't actually check on Amazon but the answer is yes! You can get 12 ounces of quality fresh-roasted beans shipped to you every two weeks from Tonx. But don't use that link use my pyramid scheme link a bit later. It will save you $10!
I just got my second shipment from Tonx this week and opened it up today. I have to say, I'm really pleased. 12 ounces/2 weeks is at least really close to my coffee bean consumption and I like the coffee just fine. It's within a buck or so of what I was paying at the local shop and I don't have to drive out and there and hope he's open.
So there you are. If you like quality coffee I'd recommend checking out Tonx. If you want to give it a try use this link. You get $10 off your first month and I think if three people use that link I get a free T-shirt. Or something like that. Anyway it's good coffee. Check it out.