CassieToday I woke up with such a grateful heart, automatically so excited about my day. And what did my day entail? A long shift at work, actually. I am so grateful for my workplace, one of people I am excited to be with and am refreshed by, of unknown opportunities in countless strangers’ days for God to work– through them and me and amongst us– of ultimately serving and stepping into God’s calling for me.
I recipe tested in the morning, finding myself quite hungry, and ate a delicious breakfast (that WILL in fact be featured in my cookbook, after. bit of tweaking), and nibbled on others bits and bobs, too. Off to work I went, greeted by an incredible team of people and faced with one of our more chaotic days– the debit and credit in our drive-thru being completely down– which we all handled with humour, kindness, and as a collective. When I think about all the snacks and drinks I tested, fuelled up with on my breaks, and was quite hungry for all day, I can’t help but smile.
In addition to wine pairing and tasting– tasting wine in small amounts with a bit of food to see what foods pair well with and bring out flavours in the wine– I have become quite passionate about coffee tasting. We are encouraged at work to prepare coffee tastings– brew a type and roast of coffee and pair it with a bit of one of our pastries– often, and I decided to start sharing this with you all! Did you know just how many versions and roasts of coffee there are– and that your local Starbucks offers?
Yesterday, I chose to prepare a tasting with Starbucks “Willow.” Our lightest, blondest roast, Willow has a high amount of caffeine, while a very light, acidic taste. This means it pairs wonderfully with lemony, bitter tastes. I paired it with a slice of our lemon raspberry loaf, which, due to my dairy allergy, I can’t eat, so I also cut one of our Kind bars, the Blueberry Cashew flavour, because of the fruity notes, and ate that with my coffee.
I remember a year ago when I first did a coffee tasting, my co-workers talking about different “notes” they picked up on their tongue from the coffee, and arbitrarily adding to the description, but not confident in what I was really tasting.
Now, the difference in taste between a light roast and a dark roast is actually OVERWHELMING. The main thing I love about tasting, and truly tasting, coffees is the appreciation it offers for just how powerful and diverse our taste buds are. The tongue is truly such a fascinating body part!
It turned into one of the jokes of the shift how much the majority of my co-workers hated this coffee. One of my shift supervisors, Sara, said that “The lemon loaf took away from some of the grossness of the coffee.”
I, in fact, loved it. My favourite roast is one step darker than Willow, called True North, but I thought the combo of the blueberry nutty bar with the light coffee was so sweet and pleasurable. Astringent and different, for sure, but I loved it.
Johnny picked me up at the end of my shift, and he had had a more stressful day, too. But when he told me about it, all I heard was the way he went about it– with patience, trust, and responsibility. We were both feeling a relaxing night in, so we had a makeshift dinner at my place and settled into an episode of Friends. There’s not too much better than just chilling with my best friend, talking about anything and everything.
I was also grateful that Maddie, my uni roomie, was able to sleep over! She came over after Johnny left, and we talked and talked and talked, and snacked, and talked for 3 hours before falling asleep. And it felt like maybe half an hour– Maddie is like my sister, and I am so blessed by her godliness and lightheartedness and overwhelming empathy.
What a day! Praise the Lord! Every day is His, and He certainly blessed me today, and the Spirit continues to provide my heart with the song of His name, my purpose, endlessly.
Let us acknowledge the Lord;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth.” HOSEA 6:3
