A Good Cuppa

Never underestimate the power of a good cup of coffee. Now, I know coffee drinkers everywhere have been saying this since their first cup in the 6th grade. I myself started in the 10th grade, and I'm proud to admit it's habit that comes with addiction headaches if I stop. In truth, I've given it up for lengths of time, but realized that there was absolutely no point. Coffee makes my world better.

I never quite understood how true that was until I reached New Zealand.

Certainly, I had experienced it in undergrad. During undergraduate finals, I drank enough coffee to give me horrendous stomach aches while studying for 12 hours straight in the library. The 24 hour Starbucks on the first floor was both a blessing and a curse.

I also knew that without two cups of percolated Folgers in Montana, I would quickly shrink into the fetal position. Granted, those two cups came after waking up at 4:45 AM and riding for two hours to wrangle the horses. Then we could talk about the hunting season, where the alarm went off at 3:15 AM, and then there was barely enough coffee in the world to keep me going until 8 PM that night.

Back to New Zealand, where I never anticipated that coffee would be such an issue. When I first approached a cafe I went up to the counter with confidence - all I wanted was a drip coffee. It was always a relief to be standing in line at Starbucks or Caribou and know that your order would never confuse the barista. Just a simple large coffee.

The reverse happened in NZ. I was terribly confused by the fact that a drip coffee could not be obtained. It's just not available. Anywhere. So you have to choose between a short black, long black, flat white, or latte. They all cost barely under $5.00 a piece.

Obviously that's not ideal. In a country where they only put milk in coffee, I wasn't thrilled about getting a short black (essentially an Americano), but there's an exorbitant amount of steamed milk in a flat white and latte. What's a girl to do?

I turned to the alternative, and here my real troubles started. The varieties of instant coffee were beyond my wildest imagination. Unfortunately, they all have one draw back: they taste like instant coffee. The next best thing was a french press, or plunger, and it has saved my sanity.

I went through every brand of plunger coffee available, and I played with the measurements until I finally had a satisfying cup. But what really topped it off was the accoutrements. While working potatoes one of my co-workers turned to me and asked:

"I've always wanted to ask an American this: is it true that you put cream in your coffee?"

I smiled my affirmation, cocking my head to the right and escaping to my day dream of pouring half and half into a cup of black coffee.  It sealed the deal.

I found cream in the supermarket, added some skim milk, and voila: the half and half of my dreams.

Now every morning it warms my hands, makes my heart smile, and kicks my ass into gear.

The fact that I could write an entire blog post about coffee is probably sentiment enough. So here's a bit of actual information about my life:

After drinking my coffee, I meander outside into the occasional sunshine to feed the mares and fillies. In total there are twelve horses and one pony on the property, but only the pony and the stallion live indoors. My daily activities include feeding the horses, cleaning the stables, riding or lunging the stallion, and treating the ailments that all of these animals have collected. Beyond that I play my recently purchased guitar (play is a generous word), wander through the town of Raglan, walk along the beach, and play with the puppy.

While the last few weeks have been slow, I haven't minded the quiet and the calm. In a few days time I'll be packing the car up for a mini road trip (puppy included), where I'll hit a few of the North Island destinations I have yet to see.

In August a new chapter will start, when I make my way to the South Island to work on a dairy rearing calves.

In other factual news, I'm losing my best-friend-and-travel-buddy Sara, who is bound for the States in a couple weeks time. We haven't been together for the past month or so, but knowing that she's out of the country, and out of NZ cell phone range, will be saddening. Hopefully I'll be meeting up with her again in a few months when she returns, but only time will tell.

Now then, my coffee is gone and there are some hungry horses to attend! Drink on, my caffeinated comrades!