Mmm. Coffee. Like many others, I stumble directly to the coffee pot in the mornings, measuring beans while I rub the sleep from my eyes. To be fair, I am certainly no coffee sommelier. My coworkers, whom are true coffee connoisseurs, have the passionate debates on various hand grinders, the proper way to make a pour-over, and the intricacies of filtered water temperatures when making coffee from different regions. I do grind our beans fresh but that’s about as fancy as me and my Mr.Coffee pot have ever gotten. For me, coffee is more about the mood, the sensations, the ritual. In fact, more evenings than not I will gather a half drunk cup of coffee from my morning workstation (my only cup of the day). I started drinking coffee in college, at a time when the work “drink” was a bit of an exaggeration. It began as something just to hold and warm my hands, bathing my senses in the warmth and the rich, signature aroma. Although today I do enjoy bitterness of coffee, snuggling my mug remains a warm comfort in my mornings. Thus, in honor of National Coffee Day, I’d like to share a small sneak peak of the coffee bar that we added in our remodel along with one of our most treasured traditions.
Inspired by my parents collection, when Cameron and I began traveling together in our dating years we also began gathering Starbucks mugs from the places we visited. As I’m cradling my morning cup of joe, it’s always fun to reminisce about our time in each city or region for which we have a mug. Several years later, our collection has expanded to include mugs from around the globe – everywhere from Switzerland to Denver, Salzburg to Koln, Hawaii to Dublin (you can read about the extraordinary adventures we had while collecting many of the international mugs on my travel blog). What started as a useful souvenir has grown to be one of our favorite collections.
