I’m in San Antonio, TX for a female Army chaplain conference.  My growling stomach woke me up at 4 a.m. this morning and I finally gave up on sleep.  Which means… I can have a cup of coffee.  CH Patrica Nichols flew in from Germany and brought me some Jacobs Meiser Rostung coffee. It looked a lot more exciting than the complimentary hotel coffee so I brewed a cup in my Bodum Bistro Mug Press.  Despite her accusations of coffee snobbery, I’m really enjoying my German coffee.  Thanks Patti!

I’m enjoying a freshly roasted Sumatran this morning. After my last post, I realized that random tea bags are not for me. I contacted a local coffee roaster friend and Joel lovingly drove to Nixa and picked up a few pounds of green coffee beans. Thanks Joel and Ed!

The coffee tastes great… but I wonder if my taste buds can fully appreciate it. I am SO sick! I have been since the OJ trial… no not that one, the one in October of this year. OK maybe it was the first one. It seems like a long time anyway.

In today’s coffee photo you’ll see my beloved two pound bag of Sumatran coffee and the new Central Assembly mug. I’m using the Central mug because I’m very sad to miss service this morning.

I’m afraid my incessant coughing might distract the congregation, and I’d hate to infect hundreds of elderly ‘heroes of the faith.’ [Seriously, half of em were missionaries in Africa for 50 years... the other half knew Paul and Timothy personally.... or at least E.N. Bell.]

So, I’m too sick to go to church. Which wouldn’t be a big deal except for the fact that I was looking forward to the sermon, the prayer time, the worship music, and sitting by my friends… The sermon will be on the podcast but the rest, I’m totally missing out on.

Speaking of sermons… I preached last Tuesday night for Central’s Enabled group.

Enabled
“An equipped, empowered, and enabled ministry for people with disabilities” that meets in the chapel on 3rd Tuesdays @ 7:00–9:00pm.

At first I thought I was being asked to “share a devotion” with a “small group.” Actually they wanted a 20 minute sermon for around 60 people at a special Thanksgiving celebration. I had so much fun! Enabled is a really diverse group: kids, young adults, elderly, physically disabled, mentally disabled, and their families. I could tell they all love each other so much.

That was officially my first sermon. [The others don't really count because they were class assignments.] I found out on Friday that I had to preach on thankfulness… I wrote my sermon on the back of a napkin at Golden Corral on Military Appreciation Day. [Mmm... free food... I was thankful!] I spoke on Psalm 107. The sermon went really well. I didn’t need any notes and I didn’t get nervous. I couldn’t be nervous, they’re such a great group of people.

Well, my coffee is getting cold and my family just left for church. I suppose I should take a shower or clean the house or do homework… or maybe turn on some music and take a nap. Yeh, it is a day of rest isn’t it?

[Could it be? Two Morning Cup posts in a row? It's true, you're not dreaming... and I'll even throw in a Tech Tangents post later just for my loyal longtime readers.]

This morning I made half of a cup of coffee… That’s all. I carefully poured my last few beans into the coffee grinder then brewed only six ounces of coffee using the inverted Aeropress method. Ahhh… it’s so good.

Last Christmas I got a Sweet Maria’s gift certificate and bought 8 pounds of green coffee beans. I’ve enjoyed roasting them all year long. Ahh… but it’s all gone.

So tell me, frugal friends, is 42 dollars too much to spend on 11 months of perfect coffee? I haven’t decided yet. I might just start drinking tea. I have a drawer full of random tea bags. Or maybe I’ll barter with a local coffee roaster.

It’s not the fanciest resort you’ll find on the lake, but it has free mini golf so the kids love it.

This morning I enjoyed a delicious ham egg and cheese scramble along with quite possibly the best cup of coffee I’ve ever tasted. No I didn’t go to the hotel restaurant or a local coffee shop. I cooked the eggs in the microwave. [A process we've perfected after living in hotels so much before Joel deployed.] And of course… I brought the coffee with me. [Sorry, I can't remember what kind of coffee I roasted last... it tastes like a Sumatran maybe... not sure. Very rustic, low acidity.]

Has it really been over a year since my last “Morning Cup” post? How has this happened?

Rachel gave me this “Hope” coffee mug last August. This morning it held freshly roasted Indonesian Flores – Bajawa Highlands “mildly floral and nutty with aromatic wood hints.”

The photo shows my hope mug in candle light. I’ve taken to lighting a candle when I pray in the morning… not so much for religious, liturgical, or mystical reasons… but because my new closet smells like a litter box… and now you know.

Either that coffee is really weak or I actually do drink water. I awoke at five a.m. still feeling yesterday’s caffeine swirling through my veins.

Back to studying Cross-Cultural Ministry.

Tonight, I sleep.

Panama Lot 12686 – “At City+ a lively, bright cup with snappy acidity. At FC+ a darker tonal range, plumy.”

With an exotic name like that it’s got to be good… Tom didn’t spend much time writing the label explanation on this one either. The review isn’t even on Sweet Maria’s site anymore. I had to use Google Cache to find it. I wonder if that says anything about the quality of this cup?

Guess I’ll find out when I drink it…

[next morning]

Yeh, it’s not so great. I’m kind of relieved. I would have hated for it to be the best coffee I’d ever had, knowing I couldn’t buy it ever again… – Wow that’s very philosophical. Let me think about that… Would I really forgo something great simply because I knew I’d never get it again? Would you? For some reason that reminds me of a Garth Brooks song.
—
“I could have missed the pain
But I’d of had to miss the dance ”
—
One thing that is definitely worth missing: My new coffee grinder. I really, really don’t like my coffee grinder. It’s so very inconsistent… well that’s not true. It consistently crushes my lovingly home roasted coffee into sad chunks and pointless powder. Plus it’s really loud… and I wake up really early. I’d love to have a nice hand crank coffee mill. One that is adjustable and good for everything from a French press to Turkish coffee.

While looking for a high quality, low price coffee mill [yeh like that's going to happen] I ran into a Web site that makes me wish I knew something… anything about tea.

Check out Adagio Teas.

Speaking of tea reminds me of my Mom and Patti. I think of mom because I think she’d like the stuff Adagio sells. I think of Patti because she gave me a cute little teapot for my birthday… which reminds me of a conversation Rachel and I had last night. She made a very true statement during our IM conversation. She said that having good online friends is bittersweet.

It really is. While they’re such a blessing, it really does hurt a bit to not be able to just go hang out with a good friend every once in a while. Here I am sharing life every day with friends that live across the country and we can’t share a cup of coffee… or tea.

Life really would be better if I could go to breakfast at Hardee’s with Patti more often. And really, these late night conversations with Holly would be much better with pizza.