coffee magic

At any time during the day, no cup of coffee is as perfect as the one I make at 4am, on weekends, when I'm wide awake, but don't need to be up yet.

As most of you know, I've been working the early morning shift at Coles for years now, waking at 4am, being at work by 6 or 6.30am.

I don't like rushing through my mornings, so I take my time over showering and breakfast. Coles is just a 15 minute walk away. But work days do not include morning coffees.


So on weekends, I still wake at 4am. This is when I make the best cup of coffee ever, and take it back to bed, with whatever I'm currently reading, and read until I get sleepy again. Or until I get up.


While I was temporarily off work, I stayed up a bit later than usual at nights, thereby sometimes managing to stay asleep until 6 or 7am.

But there were still a few mornings when I'd be wide awake at 4am, and I'd barefoot it to the kitchen, turning on the bedroom heater along the way to take the pre-dawn chill off the air.

Clearly, 4am is a magical time, as the coffee/sugar/water/milk ratio turns out exactly right and the cup of (instant) coffee that I sip in bed is perfect.

I use the same mug and spoon every time, so there is no other possible explanation for this perfection, than magic.

It's possible the deep silence of the hour is a contributing factor. That feeling of being the only person awake in the whole world.

With every successive cup of coffee during the day, I am unable to replicate this perfection.