Coffee With My Dad

I love coffee. I really do.

I'm not an absolute coffee fanatic, like Lorelai Gilmore on "Gilmore Girls" (may it rest in peace). Or Brent Leroy on "Corner Gas" (Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Central time on WGN - check out the official website http://www.cornergas.com/).

I usually only drink coffee at breakfast time. And I like it really hot with raw sugar and half-and-half.

Which is why I especially love percolated coffee. Drip coffee is good, but perked coffee is hot. The water actually boils.

I got my love of coffee from my parents, especially my dad. He would let me have a taste of coffee when I was a kid. Loved it from the first sip. When I grew up and got a job (at a library, of course!) and was living at home, I was usually the first one up in the mornings. By the time I got out of the shower, Daddy was up and had coffee brewing in his Revereware percolator. So that's when I really learned to love coffee. Having breakfast with my dad.

In recent years, I've fallen under the spell of Starbucks and mocha-locha-frappa-cappa-lattes. I will occassionally splurge on a "grande white mocha, no fat, no whip." And I'll buy bags of coffee to make at home. I even get the coffee ground for a percolator. My dad's Revereware one, of course. I still have it.

But my favorite coffee is from Tim Horton's, the donut/coffee shop chain in Canada (and a few lucky places in some northern states -- check out the website http://www.timhortons.com/). Tim Horton's needs to move further south! I have to depend on my friend in Canada to take pity on me and send canisters of their wonderful coffee. Coarse grind for perking.

My dad passed away 20 years ago. I don't know what he would think of the Starbucks and other designer coffees phenomenon. He'd probably like some of the fancy stuff. But he'd always return to the basics of a simple cup of coffee with sugar and half-and-half. That's my favorite, too. I am, after all, his daughter.