I published this post and pulled it back into drafts to rewrite it because it wasn’t meant to be about coffee. It’s about life and similar to the quality in a cup of coffee, the quality of life is in how you make it.

I really did buy a new coffee gadget and am still getting the swing of using it. For the fall and winter months I wanted something to make my coffee with the press of a button. The Chemex is still my most favored way to make coffee, but that takes time and focus, so after tons of research, I ordered an electric percolator similar to what my Mama used and her Mother as well. I loaded it the night before, walked by the following morning and pressed the button.

The percolator made a lot of noise, like it was working to make the coffee and I’ve learned the main part of a smooth cup is the water temperature. If it’s too hot it’ll burn the grinds and have a bitter aftertaste. The percolator produced the worst cup of coffee I’ve made in years, so after several tests, it was returned, but I still held hope of pressing the button, so the search continued.

I wasn’t willing to invest a ton of money, which is easy to do with coffee gadgets today, but wanted a machine that knew what to do. The DeLonghi brand has been around forever, so I decided to try the DeLonghi 3 in 1, mainly because it sounded fun being able to make coffee 3 different ways. It’s advertised to make a ‘Golden’ cup of coffee, a pour over and/or iced coffee. The Golden Cup has met quality standards of the right water temperature to earn that seal, so that sold me.

I called my daughter over to get her opinion of it and she was awestruck while watching it heat the water in the top chamber before releasing it into the carafe below. I haven’t given the other two methods a fair chance because I’m enamored with the Golden cup. We were like two kids with our faces pressed up against the toy store window, except this window gets hot, but it’s amazing to watch! Once the water started to pour into the carafe, my daughter walked away and said, “You’ve got a coffee maker Mama, just way cooler.”

I loaded this machine the night before and woke up to a cooler than normal morning. Fall arrived in Texas overnight and it was pure magic to walk by this machine and simply press the button. Life is what we make it and every morning offers an opportunity to choose the setting for the Golden Cup.