How I Came to Drink My Coffee Black

I like a good cup of coffee. I have been a coffee drinker for years. I have coffee in every country I visited. In the Far East, I have coffee and then switch to green tea, another favorite. European coffee seems to be better, more robust than most American coffee. Turkish coffee is stronger and more awakening. Just imagine a thick, strong espresso in a twelve-ounce cup.

I use a French Press and that makes a great cup of coffee. (See my website “Creativity Released – Take a Break” for using a French Press). I enjoy my coffee black, without any additives. I shy away from the nutty, fruity, spicy additives. I do not add cream or sugar. I like it the way the Lord intended it – natural with nothing added. Although when I started to drink coffee, it was with cream and sugar and I wasn’t too fussy about its strength.

A storm at sea changed all that. As a young man, I went to sea and traveled to dozens of ports in other countries. I drank my coffee with cream and sugar and enjoyed it. But the sea changed all that. On a trip to the Far East, we ran into a storm that shook the ship for nearly two weeks. High winds, heavy rains, and huge waves battered us for days at a time.

This “almost perfect storm” shook the refrigeration system so much that it cracked the piping. Gallons of water flooded in freezing it and making it useless. We had no refrigeration and soon no milk. We ran out of a lot of fresh food on that voyage.

Now coffee on a ship rivals the strongest Turkish coffee ever made. I wondered if it was safe to drink it without cream or sugar. My choice was simple, drink the coffee black or not at all. Most of my fellow officers drank their coffee black and encouraged me to do the same. I decided to try it black, skipping even the sugar. At first, I found it bitter and shocking. The second cup was better and soon I drank only black coffee. So it is even to this day.

That storm shook more than just the refrigeration system. We lost containers over the side. Iron pipes broke loose, rolled around, and damaged other cargo. The antenna broke free and we lost all communication. Yet we survived and arrived in Japan about a week late.

I began to think about what I had experienced. Everything I owned fit into two large duffle bags. I thought I led a simple life. The storm changed that and made life simpler. I could get by with less. I had to during the storm. I stopped taking things for granted. I grew more by having less.

Now I own much more than I can fit into two duffle bags. Life wants things to be bigger, more complex, and faster. I remember that from time to time I need to get rid of things. It is like pruning trees so that they’ll grow more. I must purposefully seek to simplify things.

We all face storms in our life and in our organizations. Today we face storms from things like family situations, economic pressures, natural disasters, health (bird flu), or terrorism. We need to think about what could happen. We need to simplify, to be ready always.

Here is a business question to help you get started thinking. What would I do if I suddenly I lost half of my people…my budget…my space…my computer …my cell phone…my PDA? Now, think about what is important to you at home, other than your family, and write a personal question about suddenly losing half of it.

Hidden inside the complexity of our lives is a simplicity trying to get out. We need to examine all things and keep only that which is good.

 

For now, from a coffee house in Vienna, while reading “The Freedom of Simplicity” by Richard Foster…

Charlie