Coffee Theory and Geology

I only have two settings — “not interested” or “completely obsessed.” This works well for my line of work, since you do not want a surgeon that is only casually interested in how to repair your rotator cuff tear. It does not bode well for my marriage, however, since my mistaken assumption is that my wife has the same desire to nit pick and perfect every recipe she makes. I am grateful that she has met me in the middle and allowed me to speak up on some recipes that are really exceptional … but just need a little tweaking. Yes, it’s a disease, but I keep trying to convince myself that if I can just figure out how to channel it there can yet be some good that comes of it.

Which brings me to my coffee obsession. One of the best coffee experiences of my entire life was a few years ago in a little coffee shop in Toronto, where I watched the barista carefully, noticing that he was also obsessed with the pursuit of perfect coffee. After drinking my first order (honestly can’t remember what it was), I went up to him and asked if he would be willing just to make me something — anything that he wants — as long as it was great and worthy of his craft. His eyes lit up and a few minutes later he was describing to me how he prepared the shot of espresso in a specific cup lined with a certain kind of ceramic that reflected the heat just the right way (or something like that, it was all kind of over my head, and I…