Silver Spoon

Ensuring that the first pot of coffee of the morning is acceptable is important. One of the first times I was home while my parents were on a trip, I found myself in charge of making the first pot of coffee. Making the second pot of coffee was a long-understood process: add water, grind beans, fill coffee spoon x number of times, turn on. Making the first pot involved coffee grounds from a can and—the part I didn’t know—a different measure with the coffee spoon. Day one’s coffee was fascinating. Day two was interesting. Day three was acceptable. (Then there was the month we switched to a different spoon; the fact that we lasted a month and then switched back tells you how it went.)