Smashing the snooze button repeatedly in furious rage, stumbling through limited light, dressing rapidly, irritation crawling over flesh as fingers shakily push buttons through loops.

Morning is terrible, every horrid step leading towards today's labor. Yes, mornings are terrible with only one saving grace, that first sniff and sip of the morning elixir, invigorating, renewing...perhaps this day wont be so terrible after all.

Perhaps this is an exaggeration to some, but it is my morning routine and has been for close to ten years. I was lucky enough to have a free supply of Starbucks coffee beans provided by a college roommate, as a result I was able to test and sample many varieties. This came in handy later during a sidejob as a barista where I continued to hone my pallette and expertise.

Like manyy gourmets I prefer my good coffee black as to fully experience the depth of flavor unique to each bean and preparation.

Coffee begins its life as a bean. There are three main varieties of beans, arabica, robusta, and liberica.

Some suggested arabica beans include:

• Colombian
• Colombian Milds
• Ethiopian Sidamo
• Ethiopian Yirgacheffe
• Hawaiian Kona
• Jamaican Blue Mountain
• Java
• Kenyan
• Mexico
• Mocha
• Santos
• Sumatra Mandheling
• Tanzania Peaberry
• Uganda

Robustos varieties are not reccomended and Liberica has not been tested.

Kopi Luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world and has a very unusual (yet natural preparation,lol)

Why traditional coffee makers are not recommended.

• Build up of minerals (scaling) effects flavor
• Waste created by full pot brewing
• Flavor is weaker than suggested variety
• Paper filters cannot handle all grinds
• Burned Coffee,Burned Coffee!

French Press:

A French Press works by placing grounds directly in press with boiling/near boiling water, you then allow the coffee to steep and press plunger to separate grinds from your cup

This creates a great cup of coffee, as strong as you like and by the cup if you so desire.This is great item to bring with you to work or for camping. A must have for any coffee lover.

Cons:

• Prep time for boiling water limits convenience factor
• You will probably get grinds in your beverage
• Many finer grinds are barely filtered

My suggestion: Keurig Coffeemaker

As a coffee snob, my daily coffee consumption created havok on my budget, I couldnt drink the coffee from my coffemaker without freshly grinding my beans, trying to make only one cup led to overly strong coffee so I was constantly wasting my expensive premium blends or worse yet making due with old microwaved coffee, yuk!

With premium coffee going for about 4-5 USD a cup, and that infernal tip cup guilting me, purchasing coffee on my way to work was equally costly an annoying. Not to mention the opportunity cost of finding parking, waiting in line, waiting for my order to be made, cleaning coffee stains out of my clothes spilled while trying to gulp it down in transit, and the cost of parking meters! a Coffee habit is not cheap yet 50% of adult americans start their day with some.

Knowing my Coffee addiction, I received the best gift ever this past Christmas, a Keurig Coffeemaker, I had never heard of these things. Now it is the focal point of my kitchen.

So what makes it so special:

• Designed by two engineers and coffee lovers to make the best cup
• Brews in under a minute with a touch of a button
• Formulated to brew in an exact quantity and strength every time
• Brews at the perfect temperature
• No clean up
• No mess
• No waste

The coffee comes in a nifty little package called a K-cup - each one is pre-measured for the perfect dose and works as its own filter, you place it in the machine, press your cup size and really less than a minute your cup is hot and ready (not to hot)

What really turned me on, is the ability to buy sampler packs, previously I would have maybe 3 different bags of expensive beans, now I literally have 30 varieties to choose from at all times - I can also get teas and hot cocoa for my girlfriend and visitors.

I get my K-cups delivered monthly, the cost breaks down to about .55 cents per cup, so not the cheapest source but on par with premium coffee shops and much less expensive.

My favorite flavor right now is "Mocha Nut Fudge" its not artificially flavored just a very specific roasting process.

Plus unlike other single cup machines, you can use your own coffee and place it in a reusable myKcup which can be found really cheap on eBay and is available through Keurig and Green Mountain.

I choose to purchase, Fair Trade coffees, organic coffees and shade grown coffees as much as possible, the K-cup selection does fulfill that need for me and carries the Newmans Own brand.

A quick cost analysis:

The Keurigs Retail for between 80.00-120.00 for the mid level models.

Your first 2 month supply will probably cost about 30.00 USD, and the machines come with a sampler pack.

So at the high end, $150.00 USD / 60 days - Your looking at 2.50 a day for a Cafe quality cup - with each month that average cost diminishes until your paying an average of .60 cents a cup.

If you were stopping and buying even a cheap Gas station cup you would be paying 120.00 plus opportunity costs for a subpar cup. 

The human body will absorb just 300 milligrams of caffeine at a given time. Additional amounts are cast off and provide no additional stimulation. The human body dissipates 20% of the caffeine in it's system per hour.

Turkish law makes it legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he fails to provide her with her daily quota of coffee

In the ancient Arab world, coffee became such a staple part of family life that one of the causes allowed by law for marital separation was a husband's refusal to produce coffee for his wife.

The French philosopher, Voltaire, reportedly drank fifty cups of coffee a day.

-The Roast And Post Coffee Company

Just in case you skipped it! What makes Kopi Luwak the best coffee in the world, well its hand picked by monkees, then eaten, processed through their bodies, then picked up, then made in to coffee for you!

That is, if your willing to pay 40.00 USD a cup!