I was in the kitchen grinding some coffee recently and took a longer glance at my little set up. Hand grinder, coffee beans, electric grinder.
I prefer the hand grinder. It’s slow. It’s quiet. It grinds very fine and of course I think the flavor is better, too. It is something that forces me to practice contemplation; I find myself staring out of the window while cranking. And maybe all that work counts something for exercise (to burn off the vanilla syrup?).
My husband prefers the electric grinder. It’s very fast. It grinds well enough for the aeropress we use, and he just loves the buttered coffee he makes for himself every morning. It takes him less than a few minutes.
Sometimes we have real differences in opinion in how to live life together, and some of those differences are far more serious than how to make a good coffee. In a good marriage, it is good to step back and ask the big, umbrella-like questions: what do we really want? On what can we agree? From there, that starting point, that’s where we can begin to give-and-take, compromise, make room.
After all, if the whole point is coffee, there are many ways to get there. The trick is to help one another to prepare the cup we each desire, so we then can drink up happily together.
Understand?
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