The Real Deal

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

I love my own homemade coffee. In fact, I love it so much that I get it as close to “cowboy coffee” as I can with an antique enamel pot that perks the brew atop my stove. It’s the real deal.

Add canned milk and honey, and I’m in heaven. Nearly. In the winter I add a splash of caramel. Ah, yes.

Okay – so that’s not real cowboy coffee. If it were, it’d be “horned and barefoot” which means strong and black. No sugar, no milk, and absolutely no caramel.

 

Coffee and writing go well together, especially when I’m working on a story set in the 1880s and the heroine buys several packages of Arbuckle’s Ariosa coffee beans at the local mercantile.

As a letter-loving word-wrangler, I noticed something interesting about the Arbuckle’s name. Somehow, it looked familiar.

And then it jumped right off the page:

         Arbuck-le’s

 St-arbuck-s

Do you see it?

Is this subliminal, generational advertising?

Is it in our genes? Our DNA?

After a little research, I learned that good ol’ Arbuckle’s had no influence on the moniker chosen by founders of the Seattle-based coffee house. But still, it’s fun.

Another thing I like about my stove-top coffee is how it holds the heat. When I pour that steaming brew right out of the enamel pot into my cup, it’s hotter than what I get from a coffee maker.

And coffee reheated in my microwave doesn’t compare. It stays warm for about five minutes. Coffee heated on the stove stays hot much longer. It holds the heat.

I believe this phenomenon has something to do with the heat source. True heat versus fake heat, or “microwave radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum … that produce(s) thermal energy in a process known as dielectric heating.” (Kinda kills the whole campfire mystique, doesn’t it?)

However, I’ve noticed the same principal at work in my heart.

Jesus is the real deal, and when I stay close to the true source of love and peace and joy, I hold it longer. A quick fix from anything other than Him fades even quicker.

We can take our coffee how we like it. But when it comes to our hearts, we shouldn’t settle for anything other than the real deal.

 

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