...i'm out of good coffee quotes and lyrics right now.

so, the blog has a new title. i'm not completely thrilled with it, but we'll see. if you're not familiar with the song, go to YouTube and type in "Black Coffee" it's a beautiful song.

today's topic is my personal coffee awakening.

i didn't start drinking coffee until i was seventeen. i worked at a coffee shop for almost a year prior to my coffee awakening. which makes me really sad for all of the people i served before i started drinking coffee. their drinks probably tasted terrible.

i hated coffee for a really long time. it's kind of silly. i knew that black coffee was very bitter, and the people my age that i saw drinking coffee put lots of cream and sugar in theirs. adults told me that i probably wouldn't enjoy coffee very much. so i believed everyone and every time i tried coffee, i loaded it up with lots of cream and sugar. and i HATED it.

it would have been very simple for me to make a connection and drink coffee for years previous: i drink unsweetened iced tea. i hate sweet tea. the only thing close to sweet tea that i like is Arizona Iced Tea with Lemon and if i'm feeling sassy, Firefly: the sweet tea vodka. so, if i'd thought about it for a few minutes, i would have realized that because i liked tea without sugar, i would also like coffee without sugar.

so, one night i was closing up java jitterz and i was pouring out the carafes of coffee. while i was doing this i thought to myself, "self, you're wasting an awful lot of coffee. why don't you drink some of this?" so i did. i drank two twelve ounce cups of sumatran coffee. it was delicious! it was the best thing i'd ever tasted! that night i was to meet janna and her friend toni at waffle house to hang out. so when i went to waffle house, i ordered coffee and drank it black. and that was even better than the hours-old sumatran from the shop!

i didn't go to bed before four for the rest of the summer. it was ridiculous. i didn't drink soda until about a year ago (now i'm a recovering diet coke addict) and so my caffeine intake was mostly non-existent.

so there you have it. if any of you guys are on-the-fence about how you feel about coffee, try drinking it a way that you haven't before! you may really like it. you may go crazy. or you may just enjoy reading about coffee. that's perfectly fine, too. but i encourage you to give coffee another try.

in other news:

i went to wilmington last weekend to visit my boyfriend. it's a really adorable city with lots of sweet little independent bars and stores. it very much reminded me of asheville. except for one thing: coffee shops. the city is overrun with Port City Java. i have no beef with Port City, i just wish there was more independent coffee to be seen around town. i saw one independent shop and dustin told me about one more. if you're thinking about opening a shop, head wilmington's way! they definitely need it and it's a really great city.

this summer i am trying to get a job in a theatre somewhere in the southeast, so i think this could be my very first coffee-free summer in two years. it makes me a little sad. i might try to see if Caffeind, aka my living room, needs someone to pick up a couple of late night shifts over the summer.

cheers.

another picture post!

hullo again.
here are some more pictures of the java jitterzjunkiebean in mount holly, north carolina. it's actually where i'm posting from right now! aaand thanks to the lovely anna diemer, i have pictures of le bus in downtown asheville.



here's a shot of the cafe area at the java jitterzjunkiebean. which, really it has only been that way since it became java junkie and has stayed like that for the java bean. it's a really cozy space. we can control the lights with a dimmer for the music that comes in and during the day we close the blinds when it gets really sunny because the shop heats up like an oven. when all of the side work is done and there aren't any customers, i usually curl up on one of those couches and read...and try not to sleep.



behind the counter. it's really strange switching from the double decker, which has almost no wiggle room to a full-size bar with plenty of room to run.


there she is from the other side of the street on Aston.


and this was taken from the garden. we have outdoor seating as well as indoor. the garden is really pretty and wonderfully pleasant on summer nights in asheville.


and this is just for fun. i took a picture of my coffee with the flash on at waffle house the other night. i thought it was neat that you can see my camera.

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today is my last day at java. i'm going back to school on saturday afternoon and so i'll be back in the bus, which i'm pretty excited about. but i will miss java. i really miss my regulars. i've been serving these folks on and off for two and a half years and i always miss their company whenever i have to go back to school. we don't have very many regulars at the bus because we don't have a bathroom and people don't like to stick around for too long. i'll be back for winter break next year though. no matter what stage of java the shop is in.

stay caffeinated.