THE COFFEE COUPLE

The following is a love story. Girl meets guy. They fall in love. It’s also the story of how that girl (me) came to love this dark, java drink  – coffee.

With this story, it’s best to start at the beginning. And the beginning goes back to my childhood, a time when no one I knew was passionate for coffee.

I grew up in a household of tea drinkers, with the adults occasionally plugging in a 12-cup, shiny percolator reserved for company and holidays. The rest of time it was tea and instant coffee. If Mom and Dad had a love for coffee, then they hid it well.  My mother’s father grew up in England. Dad’s heritage is Irish. I think we were destined to have a great affinity with tea leaves.

And love our tea we did. As teenagers, my siblings and I held “tea championships,” (Yes, we really were that geeky with our tea.) Which one of us could make the best cup? How much milk and sugar to get the best flavor? We took defeat personally with a vow to return to the battle with a better tea the next time. When a friend in high school offered me coffee at her house, I was a bit shocked.

Coffee? Me? No way. I’m a tea drinker.

I survived college without coffee. Found and lost love without coffee. I entered the work force without coffee. I moved happily through life without it. Needless to say, this girl was content.

Then I met Joe Brand – Coffee Fanatic.

Joe and I met in church. Our first interactions were in the basement Fellowship Hall where coffee was served, which I ignored because I was still much the tea snob. But I didn’t ignore Joe. We became friends. We started dating. And we fell in love.

Now Joe is not your average coffee drinker. I mean, the guy’s name is JOE. Of course, he loved his coffee. We would go out and he would finish his meal with coffee. We would go for a drive and he would stop at a convenience store for a cup. I met his family, and sure enough, they were a bunch of fanatical coffee drinkers too (converted by Joe, I later learned.)

I thought to myself: This guy is really strange. He drinks a lot of coffee.

Somewhere in middle of all of this, Joe suggested I finally give coffee a try. 

You know what happens when you fall in love.  Love means trying new things. Like bungee jumping. Or swimming with sharks or alligator wrestling.

Or maybe just trying a cup of coffee for the first time.

Joe’s enthusiasm for coffee intrigued me. I wondered if I could possibly be missing out by not drinking coffee. Plus the guy was just flat-out persistent with a huge side of cute. I definitely would’ve jumped out of an airplane if he asked me.

So I sipped my first cup of coffee and, as the old saying goes, the rest is history. I fell for coffee. Not too long after, Joe and I married.

That was over 12 years ago. In that time, we’ve shared a lot of coffee, some good, some not so good, and our passion for this tiny bean has only increased – kind of like our love for each other. We’ve out lasted several coffee pots, a few percolators, and a French press or two. We’ve drank coffee up and down the east coast and on the other side of the world. When we travel, we search out the best coffee we can find. I wonder where else coffee will take us?

That’s our love story.  We call ourselves The Coffee Couple. Joe and Monica. Passionate for a tiny bean. Follow along with us as we pursue our passion for excellent coffee.

For the love of the bean – and true love!