The four-barrel carburetor of coffee makers

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I screwed up, y’all.

About a year ago, I wrote a piece about using a french press coffee maker for the first time, and how incredibly strong the coffee was, because it gave me super-powers, like having a heart rate of 65,000 bpm. I could have scared a hummingbird cardiologist half to death.

I never drank much coffee before getting on the truck with George. The occasional cup of “please don’t let me die on the way home” after a night shift at the nursing home was about as much as I ever imbibed. This is unusual for a night shift nurse. I know of more than one who existed solely on Marlboro reds with the filters torn off and black coffee. But that’s another story. The fact is, I developed my coffee habit on the road with George, who is “Captain Coffee” for the first two hours of his day.

So right after I wrote the piece, the nice people at Aeropress sent me one of their coffee presses, and asked me to try it, see how I liked it, and let them know. And I was fascinated with it because it’s plastic and looked like even I couldn’t break it. It also reminds me of a syringe, which is OK if you’re a nurse, but no so much if you’re afraid of needles. (It doesn’t have any needles, by the way.)

I took it out of the box, read the nice letter the folks sent with it, and put it on the counter to try. Unfortunately, it was on the counter with seven other boxes, because we had just moved, and I somehow forgot about it and packed it away without ever trying it.

4 Barrel Carb 2017 04 03 09 59Rude, right? Hence the I screwed up part. I hate to be rude, and I apologize for doing it.

I’d like to give a shout out and thank my friend Salena Lettera, of “The Daily Rant” fame, for reminding me I had an Aeropress. Salena has been doing this trucking thing right for a long time. She makes it an experience instead of a job. Her blog is an excellent source of information about destinations, food, and the general coolness living like a nomad can be, once you’ve done it for a minute and know the tricks.

She also suggested a coffee to run through it that I’m pretty sure should be outlawed in at least Utah. And because I have Amazon Prime (which Salena and I both agree is the most fantastic thing on earth and possibly the entire universe), I ordered the coffee, the police didn’t come when it was delivered, and I used my Aeropress and experienced euphoria via coffee for the first time in my life.

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Holy jeebus.

First of all, I don’t think the Aeropress could be any easier to use. The only thing it lacks is a hose to push the coffee directly into your veins, thus eliminating the need to drink it at all. It’s balanced and easy to press, almost like they know there are people like me, who can fall down getting up, that might enjoy pressed coffee without those pesky shards of glass that come with the tenth broken french press. It’s a snap to clean, which is somewhat disappointing when you’re juiced up and ready to scrub the caulk off a bathtub, but I can see it would be a distinctly nice feature when using it in the truck.

So, I apologize that it took me a full year to appreciate the kindness of someone who would reach out to send me a product, but I do appreciate it, and I love the little coffee syringe. I also appreciate people like Salena, who promote such a positive image in this industry, and have done so consistently for a long time. Thank you! (And tell Ed to fire up the smoker, we’ll catch y’all on the road.)