Coffee has been around since about the 15^th century, give or take. It didn’t’ really catch on until the Boston Tea Party which put quite a damper on tea drinking, among other things. Drinking coffee still kind  of bumped along after that, starting to become popular during the war and the ‘50’s, still just kind of looking for it’s spot. This period in time also introduced us to “instant coffee.” No one is really sure why that happened, or what that stuff was.

It hit it’s stride in the 70’s when that Seattle based company opened up offering coffee to the masses. They now have a few locations and I believe it is still possible to get a cup of black coffee at one of them, kind of like it may still be possible to hear a song played on MTV. Is MTV still around?

This isn’t really about coffee and all the hoopla surrounding it. It is about one particular cup of coffee last summer.

A couple of friends and I had spent a few days on Lake Powell on one of the guys boat. August in Page, Arizona is a little cooler than Phoenix, but then almost anywhere is so it was still a warm trip. After a couple of days on the lake it was time to pack up and head back south.

Getting the boat put away takes a few hours work, putting a 32 foot boat on the trailer, inside cleaning, window covers on the outside, packing the upper and lower Bimini’s,  stowing miscellaneous boat equipment and getting our gear out and stowed in the car for the drive home. It’s a hot afternoon’s work and by the time we finished up I was pretty sweaty and tired.

While the owner was getting a few things done I grabbed my bag and headed over to the storage office.  It’s cool and shady, and rarely is anyone behind the service window. Ring the bell for service and eventually a human appears.

There isn’t a shower there, but in the restroom I used the sink to clean myself with cool water. Surprising how refreshing that can be. Running a comb through my hair, putting on clean fresh close I was ready for the ride home. Almost

The waiting room has a coffee machine which makes one cup of coffee at a time. Perfect. I don’t really like to have a large caffeine intake late in the day and something about de-caffeinated coffee just doesn’t seem right.

Choosing  Sumatra blend, which is very smooth, I waited patiently for my cup of coffee to brew. The machine did it’s thing, a couple of minutes I had a fresh, hot, perfect cup of coffee. Sitting back in one of the leather lounge chairs I sipped on my coffee. Hot, delicious coffee. I was cooled off, clean, relaxed and tired.

A cup of coffee, in solitude. A perfect end to a great trip. One particular cup of coffee that I will always remember,one particular trip that I will also remember.