I didn’t know 2)Starbucks sold coffee，” I murmur， appearing slightly 3)intrigued.

“But—um ... I mean， you really don’t know

Starbucks is a coffee shop?”

“It’s not， that I’m aware of.” I generally don’t 4)tip my hand so quickly， but she looks like an 5)easy mark.

“Well I like it.”

“Of course you do! I used to like it， too.”

My path to coffee snobbery was innocent. It always is. There’s not a one of us who decided to become a coffee snob. Not like wine snobs. Wine snobs become wine snobs because it’s 6)hip and cool. Anyone who decides to become a coffee snob becomes a Starbucks Fanboy， because Starbucks Fandom is hip and cool.

The only coffee-drinker in my immediate family， I developed the taste as a teenager， drinking the 7)swill (I didn’t know it was swill! Honest!) served at parties， church functions， and 8)doughnut shops. We never had coffee around the house except when out-of-town company necessitated it， and then it was the 9)ubiquitous Nescafe.

I drank that， too. I loved it. Eventually， I got to drinking it black. Swill. Black. I know. I’m sorry. I know better now.

In college， I drank cafeteria coffee. I drank coffee on airplanes， coffee at receptions， coffee everywhere brown water went by that name. For one Valentine’s Day， my then-girlfriend gave me a French press.

Now， she was—and to my knowledge， still is—a Starbucks Fan. At the time， though， she was the one to teach me the difference between swill and “good coffee”. I became obsessed， and started making cheap pre-ground coffee in the press.

Epiphany the First: Automatic drip coffee-makers have poor temperature control; they scorch， overextract and underextract every cup of coffee， yielding a burnt cup that’s 10)paradoxically both bitter and sour.

So now I couldn’t drink the stuff I’d been served for most of my coffee-drinking years. I knew coffee could be better. 11)The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil ruined things by demonstrating distinction; the French press did the same thing. Once you know the difference， there is no return to blissful ignorance. And is being able to enjoy the most easily-available type of coffee such a bad thing? Then she gave me a grinder.

Epiphany the Second: Grinding coffee immediately before brewing is the single biggest improvement you can make to your coffee. Granted， I was using roasted-who-knows-when beans from the supermarket mystery-bins labeled exotic wonderful things like “Columbian Dark Roast” and “12)Sumatra 13)Mandheling”.

Looking back， I’m astonished I could taste the varietal difference in those beans， but my first cup of a Mandheling was at this point: I still remember my gleeful astonishment. “It tastes sweet and a little creamy all on its own! Black!”

For several years， I was considered a coffee snob， though not really earning the title. I’d politely refuse coffee whenever it was offered， because I knew my poor odds of enjoying the cup. When I could， I’d go to some of the nicer local coffee-houses and enjoy a cappuccino. Then I discovered it was possible to procure， at retail， green， unroasted coffee.

Epiphany the Third: Coffee that is not fresh is hardly coffee at all.

What can I say? I’m still beginning this journey. It started with my wanting an espresso machine. I thought I could pick up a little mini-14)Krups at the thrift store and be done with it. My research saved me—or doomed me. I discovered that to make anything worth drinking， one had to have fresh coffee. I thought， “No problem. I’ll just buy what I can use in a couple of days.”

WRONG!!!!

“Two weeks，” they said. Yes， definitely

15)puts a damper on the festivities.

“Wait， really?”

“Really.”

“And green coffee costs how much?”

“Maybe five or six bucks a pound， depending on what you get.”

“So， what about if I want the really good stuff， like that local shop has?”

“Oh， that? Two fifty or three bucks a pound.”

Denouement:

There is no denouement: only a continual journey. I roast a half a pound a week. I’m

exploring options for a higher-volume system.

Coffee is worth that.

To a coffee snob.

我不知道星巴克賣咖啡，”我咕噥道，顯得有一絲好奇。

“可是——嗯……我是說，你真不知道星巴克是間咖啡店？”

“它不是……我所知道的咖啡店?！蓖ǔＮ也粫@么快說出自己的想法，但是她看起來挺傻的。

“嗯，我喜歡它。”

“你當然喜歡啦！我以前也喜歡它?！?/p>

我走上咖啡勢利眼之路完全是無意的。事情往往都是這樣的。我們都不是自己決定要成為咖啡勢利眼的。不像那些葡萄酒勢利眼，他們之所以成為勢利眼是因為那樣很潮很酷。而每一個立志要成為咖啡勢利眼的人最后卻倒都變成了星巴克的粉絲，因為覺得做星巴克的粉絲很潮很酷。

在我的直系親屬中，我是唯一一個喝咖啡的人。我從十幾歲時開始喝咖啡，在聚會上，在教會慶典上，在甜甜圈店里喝著這種泔水（我那時還不知道那些咖啡有多差！說真的?。?。我們從不在家里喝咖啡，除非有外來的客人需要，而那時喝的也不過是隨處可見的雀巢咖啡罷了。

我也喝雀巢。我喜歡它。最后，我開始喝什么都不加的黑咖啡。泔水。黑的。我知道。對不起?，F(xiàn)在我了解多了。

在大學里，我喝自助餐廳里的咖啡。我在飛機上喝咖啡，在招待會上喝咖啡，在一切地方喝那些被稱為是“咖啡”的褐色的水。但是，有一年情人節(jié)，我當時的女朋友送了我一個法式壓濾壺。

而今，她曾是——據(jù)我所知，現(xiàn)在仍是——一個星巴克粉絲，雖然當時正是她教我如何分辨泔水和“好咖啡”的。于是我被迷住了，開始用壓濾壺制作便宜的預磨咖啡（事先磨好的、非現(xiàn)磨咖啡）。

頓悟一：自動滴濾式咖啡壺在溫度控制方面很糟糕。每杯咖啡不是煮焦了、蒸餾過度了，就是蒸餾不夠，做出來的是煮焦的咖啡，既苦又酸。

于是現(xiàn)在我再也喝不下那些讓我喝了那么多年所謂的咖啡。我知道咖啡原來是可以更好的。使人分別善惡的智慧之樹通過顯示事物的差別來摧毀事物，法式壓濾壺也是如此。一旦你了解了其中的區(qū)別，就不可能再回到幸福的無知中去。而且，能享用最隨手可得的咖啡真的是件壞事嗎？后來，她又送了我一臺研磨機。

頓悟二：研磨好咖啡之后立即烹煮是您提高自己咖啡品質(zhì)最簡單的方法。當然，我以前也使用從超市買的那些所謂上好的咖啡豆，既不知道是什么時候烘烤的，還裝在神秘兮兮的容器里貼著國外的標簽，如“哥倫比亞深烘”和“蘇門答臘曼特寧”。

回首從前，我很驚訝自己居然能品嘗出這些咖啡豆種的不同之處，不過我第一次喝曼特寧時感覺卻是這樣的——我依然記得當時自己滿懷驚喜：“它本身居然是甜的，還帶了點奶油味！這可是什么都沒加的黑咖啡哦！”

多年來，我一直被人認為是個咖啡勢利眼，雖然是名不副實。當別人點咖啡時，我通常會禮貌地拒絕，因為我知道自己不大可能會喜歡它。如果可以的話，我會去本地一些較好的咖啡店，享受一杯卡布奇諾。后來，我發(fā)現(xiàn)原來可以在零售店買到未經(jīng)烘烤的生咖啡。

頓悟三：不新鮮的咖啡根本算不上是

咖啡。

我能說什么呢？我也不過是剛開始這段旅程，它的起因是我想買臺意大利濃縮咖啡機。我想我可以在舊貨店淘一個迷你型克魯柏咖啡壺，然后用它來做咖啡。不過我的研究救了我——或者說讓我走上了不歸路。我發(fā)現(xiàn)要做出任何值得喝的飲品，你必須要有新鮮的咖啡。我想：“沒問題。過兩個天我就能買到我想要的東西吧。”

錯了?。。?！

“要等兩個星期，”他們說。是的，絕對是當頭一盆冷水。

“我只能等著，對嗎？”

“沒錯?！?/p>

“那生咖啡怎么賣？”

“大概5到6美元一磅，看你要哪種而定?！?/p>

“那么，如果我想要那些真正的好貨色呢，像那些本地商店里賣的那些？”

“哦，那些啊？2.5到3美元一磅就行?！?/p>

結局：

其實沒有結局：只有繼續(xù)的咖啡之旅。現(xiàn)在，我每周要烘烤半磅咖啡，還在尋找提高烘烤量的方法。

咖啡值得這么做。

對于一個咖啡勢利眼來說……