I’ve been a coffee drinker my entire adult life – basically since I was 9 years old. In fact, along with buying one’s own toilet paper, I believe drinking coffee is the single metric by which to determine one’s departure from childhood into the realm of “adulting”.

Okay, I guess I’m in a playful mood today. I didn’t start drinking coffee at age 9. In fact, I didn’t have my first cup of coffee until I was 20 years old – about the time I began buying toilet paper for myself. I never cared for the taste until that point, but when I was living in a Christian servicemen’s home in Hinesville, GA circa 1995-98, I decided I was going to give it a fair shot.

And wouldn’t you know it, I actually liked it! Provided I put enough of that disgusting artificial creamer in it that is.

And I’ve been hooked ever since.

Of course, how I’ve drunk my coffee has changed quite a bit over the years. After leaving the military in 1998 and moving to Washington State to go to Bible college, I switched from the powder to actual dairy in the form of half and half – which in hindsight improved the experience quite a bit. And since I was working a full-time day job, attending classes at night, and then pounding out my assignments and even a bit of trumpet playing during whatever time I had left, coffee was a regular part of my life.

The half and half phase lasted quite awhile, probably until my late thirties. However, as change is as certain as wildfires in Canada and Hawaii, so has my preferences in how I drink coffee.

I would say about ten years ago, I did away with half and half entirely and have drunk it black ever since. However, even that comes in an infinite variety. Pour over, French press, Mr. Coffee, paper towel in place of the filter, I’ve done it all.

Living in Vietnam gave me an entirely new coffee-drinking experience. They’re rather economical about it there. Rather than have 2-3 cups of coffee, why not use the same amount of coffee and highly concentrate it into about a half of the standard American cup? It has the same effect, makes the hair on the chest grow just as fast, and in a fraction of the time!

These days I’m doing it kind of a hybrid of days gone by. I’ll put in 2 tablespoons of finely ground Greek coffee I purchased at the Greek Orthodox Church I attend, then fill the French press about halfway. That’s my morning cup of joe, and it seems to work!

Just as the circle of life has wrought varying ways of consuming coffee, so has my life changed quite a bit. My views on things, both important and trivial, have changed. People of my generation have witnessed the most profound change in how humans communicate, make a living, interact with each other in history. I’m inclined to say my 9 year old son will interact with his peers basically the same way when he’s 47 years old as he does now. Email is a mainstay, social media in its various forms will never go away. Of course, it will be interesting to see how AI changes how we interact with each other in the coming decade or two.

One thing that has not changed, and will never change is our basic need for Community. Respect. Adventure. Honesty. Energy from a higher power.

Those are the cornerstones of my business, and is the namesake of my little hobby podcast titled This Is What We C.R.A.V.E. 

I’m getting things ready with the show as far as new content goes after a brief summer hiatus, but if you want to listen to a few of the episodes I’ve produced thus far this year, I personally recommend it!

Click here to give it a listen: https://jamesdnewcomb.com/podcast