Keeping in mind how spoiled we are

In the last few days I've had a couple of conversations and/or experiences that have reminded me of just how spoiled we really are.

First - this morning I walked into the Stumptown roastery just in time to get handed a cup of freshly brewed Panama Esmerelda. Such an incredible or perhaps astonishing coffee - like a Belgian Gran Cru ale. Seriously. So I sat there, enjoying the complexities, smiling to myself and Jim and I got into a conversation which lead to the following statement - "you know, it's sad to think that most people don't even know what coffee really tastes like." Thinking about this I came to realize just how true it is. Jim then told me a story of how, when driving to Idaho, he stopped at a gas station to use the hot water tap on their coffee brewer to make a press pot of the Panama Don Pachi. He offered to give the woman behind the counter some of the coffee in exchange, but she told him she didn't really like coffee. None the less, he left her a small cup of it. As he was starting to drive away she came running out of the station, waving her arms in the air. She wanted to know everything about the coffee... "what he put in it" why it tasted the way it did how he made it.

Second - this ties into a comment someone made to me the other day. I was tasting some incredible CoE coffees that Andrew Barnett sent to me. I shared a lovely Nicaragua CoE with a friend. He took a sip and the weirdest look came over his face. Another sip... He turned to me and said, "this doesn't even taste like coffee!"

Third - I had a hysterical conversation with someone the other day on the phone. They were trying to get me to "sell them" on why they should drive in from the suburbs to Stumptown to get their coffee. They'd never had Stumptown coffee and simply couldn't see how it could be worth it.

The reality is that most people probably don't actually know what coffee really tastes like. And that is very sad.
This also presents us with a serious challenge. How do you describe the colour green to someone who sees in black and white? How do you describe the emotional content of that colour? How do you express the value of experiencing it?

Every one of us should savour our next cup of coffee - because we are the few, the lucky ones. We actually get to know what coffee really is.