The JoyOf Coffee Shopping

I went grocery shopping with Marlene yesterday. In years past, grocery shopping meant that she shopped for groceries while I perused the magazine rack, and I would usually end up buying some sort of magazine to read. There were times that I even bought two. But times have changed. 

The magazine section at the Wegmans where we shop is a shrunken remnant of what it once was. And the magazines are all now so expensive.  I can't recall the last time I bought a magazine at a grocery store. It has been that long. 

The internet did it. The internet has changed almost everything in our civilization. I barely remember what life was like before the internet, and most of my life was lived before the internet.

The internet has been a powerful force for creative destruction. Creative destruction is a process through which something new brings about the demise of whatever existed before it. 

I learned what creative destruction is from the internet. In fact, I actually looked up the definition above on the internet, then copied and pasted it into that paragraph. 

But the internet has a couple of very significant flaws. Security and privacy can not be ensured on the internet. So, don't think that the internet as we now know it is the end of the story when it comes to revolutionary changes and creative destruction.

In his new book, Life After Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy, George Gilder predicts that blockchain innovations will solve the current internet flaws and totally transform the internet. Gilder has a remarkable track record with these sorts of predictions. 

This Interview with George Gilder is interesting. There are also numerous YouTube interviews. But let's get back to coffee...

With the grocery store magazine rack now an uninteresting, decimated husk of glossiness, I have turned my attentions to the coffee isle. 

I started drinking coffee when I was 50 years old. It just didn't interest me at all before that. But now, I love my morning cups (two) of coffee. 

I make my coffee in a French Press, which is so simple. This YouTube Video shows the process. Just like the man in the video, I wear a white shirt, vest, and bow tie when making my morning coffee. But, lacking a tweed cap, I wear my red-and-black-plaid Stormy Kromer.

I recently purchased a small, hand-operated coffee bean grinder at a thrift store for $3.75. Brand new, in the box. What a deal! It works very nicely. So, instead of ground coffee, I now buy the roasted beans.

For me, part of the joy of coffee is trying different kinds, and not purchasing the cheapest coffee is one of my life's simple luxuries. I love to read the packages and try different kinds. 

While perusing the coffee selection at Wegmans yesterday I spied the Death Wish coffee you see pictured at the top of this post. I took that picture because I thought the name was a noteworthy example of what not to name your product. It is like putting a curse on your business, not to mention your customers, or so it seems to me.

If Death Wish coffee were the only coffee available in the grocery stores I would go back to drinking hot chocolate.

Now, don't think for a minute that I am disparaging Death Wish coffee. I wish the company nothing but success and happiness. They may well make the best coffee I ever tasted. But it just doesn't matter. I'll never know. For me, the name is a total product killer. I'm sorry.

I opted to get the bag of coffee beans you see below. Hand-harvested coffee beans from Ethiopia is somewhat appealing to my exotic imaginations. But "fruity and floral with notes of Concord grapes" totally sold me. I love Concord grapes. I can relate to Concord grapes. I grow Concord grapes! 

It doesn't matter that the coffee will probably not actually be all that fruity and floral, and I will probably not taste any hint of Concord grapes. Just the beauty of that description is enough to get me to buy it, and try it, and probably like it. In the final analysis, as much as I enjoy coffee, I'm not really much of a coffee connoisseur. It all tastes pretty much the same to me.