My Grandfather Drank Cowboy Coffee

Istijlál (Majesty), 12 Kalimat (Words), 165 BE – Thursday, July 24, 2008 about 6:35 AM PDT

My grandfather drank cowboy coffee and my grandmother drank hot tea. I remember my grandfather making coffee the first thing in the morning. He made it in a percolator and used five scoops of coffee grounds.

Grandpa did not remove the percolator's basket after brewing the coffee. Unless he made another pot of coffee, he left the basket, with the grounds still in it in the pot all day long, Grandpa would strong drink coffee all day long. All day long, the percolator would perk and the coffee would get stronger and stronger. At various intervals throughout the day, Grandpa would come into the house, sit down at the kitchen table, pour himself a cup of coffee and sip it, while he read the paper or talked to Grandma.

Each day, Grandpa would drink his last cup of coffee before going to bed. He would not go to bed until he finished the coffee in the pot. The next morning he would get up, after a good nights sleep and make a fresh pot of coffee. Grandpa drank coffee, strong enough to walk under its own power, all day long and had no trouble sleeping. Grandma had difficulty sleeping all night, when she woke up and could not get back to sleep she cleaned house. Grandpa would lay in bed snoring away while Grandma cleaned house and sometimes ran the vacuum cleaner.

I learned to drink coffee from my Grandfather. Sometimes he would pour my siblings and me some coffee and give it to us to drink. When he gave us coffee he put cream and sugar in our coffee, but I remember him drinking his coffee black. I eventually stopped putting cream and sugar in my coffee; I like my morning coffee black without cream or sugar. When I go to a coffee house and get a specialty coffee, sometimes I have it with cream and sugar, but I always drink my morning coffee without cream and sugar. In addition, I like my coffee strong.