Illustration by Andrés Murillo.

Originally published in the Summer Issue 2020.

Lockdown has stripped me not only of my routines, but also my mornings. With no pressure to stand up and start existing at any particular time, it’s so easy to waste away in my increasingly uncomfortable bed, waiting for the day to end, so the next one could begin. I started to miss the days I’d get up at seven a.m to be in college for nine. I missed coffee, buses, and feeling like a human being. 

While returning to the bus was not an option, coffee felt like something I could latch on to. I could be a coffee person who woke up for their coffee. It might even get me to wake up before two p.m. I ordered a drip set and nice beans and waited. I watched YouTube videos about how to get the “perfect pour” and what type of bean grinder I should be using. Posh men on the internet explained to me that once I started grinding my own beans, I would never go back.

The reality of my new filter coffee based morning routine is both more obnoxious and less exciting than it sounds. It is, however, methodical and satisfying. I fill the kettle, I grind the beans, I wet the filter paper, I preheat the mug. There is a specific way that the people on YouTube tell me to pour the water in; I never do it right. I need steady hands for it, which I don’t have. But it feels nice to try. 

 

But my coffee pouring skill doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. Without fail, one mug of coffee comes out every morning. I don’t remember if it tastes as good as coffee from cafes. It takes five minutes, and it’s barely a routine. But it is the only one I have, it gets me up in the morning, and it tastes wonderful.