Compromises, filter coffee and separate bills

Our lives are a series of compromises. Most of these compromises go unacknowledged even as they pile up like compound interest. In this machinery of give and take, there is one thing I can't compromise on - my filter coffee.

Everyone has that one thing they can't compromise on. Of course, most have us have more than one thing that we don't like to compromise on but there is one thing that stands out more than the others, like a prodigy of prodigies in an ivy league class.

All things being equal, I can't compromise on my coffee.

It has to be filter coffee. I have long since abandoned vending machine coffee. I have also abandoned having filter coffee in over priced coffee shops as they don't taste like filter coffee in the first place.

Outside of homes that revere and give filter coffee its due, there are very few places where you get good, respectable filter coffee.

My filter coffee has to be strong. Really strong. The milk just plays the supporting role. No sugar. Zilch. Nada. The way non-smokers can sniff out cigarette odour if someone has been smoking, even if a granule of sugar has found its way into my coffee, I will notice.

My wife has slightly more relaxed rules. She likes light coffee with sugar.

When you go to a darshini, specifying how you like your coffee is of utmost importance.

I say 'less, strong'.

My wife says 'regular'.

Problems began to brew when I would tell the coffee maker our respective requirements.

Sometimes, he would make both our coffees strong, pissing my wife off. Or he would add sugared milk to my coffee, pissing me off. Or he would make both the coffees light. After numerous such misadventures, my wife hit upon a solution - ask for separate bills and go to the coffee counter separately.

It worked. Finally, we could both sip our brews in peace.

At a time when environment consciousness is on the rise and people are plogging instead of merely running, we waste a little paper in a bid to get our coffee the way we like it.

The perfect cup of filter coffee or saving the environment?

Life is all about compromises.

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