by Karen Berman
Perhaps you grind your own coffee beans from a thoughtfully selected blend, brew them up with distilled water, pure the resulting liquor into a special mug and - ahh – savor each mouthful. Or maybe you pop a pod into the coffee maker, fill up your travel mug, and hotfoot it out the door. The again, you might hand over some bucks for a half-caf tall latte with two-percent milk, and then address it with half a pack of sweetener and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Whatever your ideal cup, it’s nice now and then, as you take that welcome first sip, to ponder coffee: where it came from, how ti got to you, and how it is that people all over the world, whether richer or poorer than you, younger or older, smarter or not so smart, share your devotion to these seemingly common grounds. Coffee punctuates our days; it helps us wake up in the morning, signals a break in the workday, keeps us alert through the afternoon, and then, in the evening, helps us prolong the pleasure of dinner and conversation. Rise and Shine! From roasts to brews, coffee bean to coffee cup, this Little Black Book gets you into the espresso lane with over 70 tempting recipes for hot, cold, and spirited coffee drinks and related treats! Time to wake up and smell the coffee!