We had an exchange student from Scotland stay with us years ago. I enjoy seeing how cultures differ and sometimes collide as a result of those differences. You know you are experiencing culture shock when you find yourself regularly asking “Why do they do it that way?”

This student was struck by how the Americans that he encountered took their coffee, i.e., with lots of things added like sugar, artificial sweetener, cream, half and half, whole milk, two percent, skim, turbinado, chocolate, not to mention those ubiquitous bottles of Monin or Torani flavoring that line the shelf behind any barista. He had a standard comeback when someone he was with started the alteration process…

“Coffee is a drink, not a dessert!” (please read with Scottish brogue)

I have to admit that I side with him on that one. I prefer my sweets in cakes, pies and pastries, but when it comes to coffee, give me the pure, unadulterated brew that comes from the simple process of combining quality ground beans with hot water. Nothing more, nothing less.

I firmly believe that most people who don’t like coffee have never had really good coffee. If all I had to drink was gas station drip, I would yield to masking its characteristics as well.

The pleasure center for coffee is on the bitter palate. Bitter for most of us is a bad term, but bitter is just like the other senses of salty, sweet and sour. Each can be trained to learn to enjoy its sensations in proper amounts.

So why learn to enjoy something you don’t like, say coffee? It’s the same reason to learn how to do anything that you don’t come by naturally. I don’t know many people who knit that didn’t learn how. Most of us had to learn to drive, swim, and even walk. We take time to learn because we know there are pleasures waiting for us if we make the effort.

Don’t worry, at bread&cup we’ll still have all the stuff to stir into your morning java, but just in case you get a notion, try it plain and simple and see if it doesn’t grow on you. It could change your life.

Remember, we’ll set the table; you bring the conversation.