I live in Texas. This is the land of the drive through liquor store; because running in to buy a six pack simply takes too much time. Oh, it’s not that we are as fast paced as down town LA on Laker’s game night, or New York City’s Time’s Square. But we are fairly fast paced here in the Dallas metroplex. I find myself caught up in it all the time. Hurry up!

I love to have coffee in the morning. Of course I am always in a rush. So the Bunn-O-Matic three minute coffee pot that I purchased five years ago seemed a dream come true. At night when I go to bed I would load the pot with water, the basket with coffee, and in the morning, on my way through to let my dogs out for a run I would flip the switch and in a mere three minutes I had steaming hot coffee. Ah… the marvels of modern engineering!

Recently, a friend of mine introduced me to the French coffee press. This is frankly, a technological step… Actually several steps backwards in time. It’s down right slow! But, oh my, is the quality of the coffee superb!

In order to make coffee in a French press you actually have to put water in the kettle and bring it to a boil. (Do you remember kettles? Do you even HAVE one? I didn’t. I had to purchase one. More on that later.)

While the water is boiling, you add fresh coffee grounds to the bottom of the French Press, and then just as the water comes to a perfect rolling boil, you fill the press to the top. Then… you wait. SIX AGONIZINGLY LONG MINUTES you wait, while the coffee steeps in the hot water. Then, finally, about twelve minutes after you started, you can press the coffee grounds from the coffee and FINALLY have a cup of coffee.

Truthfully, I do not know what makes the coffee taste so good. Is it the methodology of the preparation? Is it simply the fact that I have to slow down and wait, anticipating the coffee for bit? I honestly have no idea why it is so good, but I have become a victim of my own culture having gone for the instant gratification of fast everything. It is not lost on me that coffee has slowed me down a little bit.

Of course this post is not about making coffee. It’s about making sure that I don’t cut corners just for the sake of speed. My coffee induced observation is simply this: I have become so focused on lightning fast everything that I have come to accept mediocre as the new good, and just barely acceptable as the new average. But in slowing down, and returning to a process that is time tested, and a little more detail oriented, I am reaping huge rewards. At least when it comes to coffee.

In closing, however, let me, the ultimate technology lover point out that I have not moved into a cabin in the wilderness. I am not posting this from a stone tablet wired to a windmill. I still love technology. I still want all that engineering and technology have to offer. Simply put though, I am reminded to slow down just a bit to make certain that I am not sacrificing quality of experience for expedience.
Oh, the kettle… There is a new electric powered kettle that can boil 1.5 liters of water in about two minutes flat. And THAT is a marvelous advance.