Isn’t this a fun little monthly themed link-up post? I don’t know about you but I love to peek into how other people live … we all enjoy a bit of voyeurism now and then – why else would reality TV be so popular LOL.

Anyway, I obviously don’t create these link-up topics (the bloggers in the graphic do) but I am really excited about the topics they picked for this year. The first “Let’s Look” for 2021 is … Let’s Look At Your Coffee Bar Area!

I don’t have a very fancy coffee bar area; I prefer to keep my counters as clutter free as possible BUT what you see here are definitely my must-have essentials for my morning (and afternoon) coffee.

A little history of me and coffee – I wasn’t always a coffee drinker. I would enjoy a good latte as a dessert or treat once in awhile but was never one of those people who could drink their coffee black or who “needed coffee to wake up” until a few years ago.

I still remember how I started getting into coffee. We were on vacation and I was feeling a little sleepy so I had some of the free black iced coffee that the hotel we were staying in offered to guests. I don’t know how this black iced coffee was brewed but it was so cool and refreshing and DELICIOUS. I’d never had black coffee (iced or hot) that I enjoyed SO much. I started drinking it every day and by the time our vacation ended, I was a coffee drinker LOL.

In the beginning when I started drinking coffee regularly, I brewed it with a Keurig at home. Then I graduated to a French press (“real” coffee with coffee grounds!). And then finally … a pour over style brewed via Chemex!

I’m definitely not an expert when it comes to coffee – everything I learned about how to make coffee with my Chemex I learned from the internet haha – but I’ve been making coffee like this for about two years now and have a little routine that I do every day.

I like to grind my coffee fresh for every batch that I brew; my favorite beans right now are Tesora from Philz. My sister from another mister, DP, introduced me to these beans and while I’m not so much of a snob that I can’t have other coffee, this is my preferred blend to buy when it’s available.

Brewing my coffee … I usually brew enough for J to enjoy too. I’m in the in-house barista in this family apparently.

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Brew, my delightful deliciousness, brew ….

Last step … I know I’m going to get laughed at for this but I can’t have my black coffee HOT. If I’m going to drink it black, it needs to be iced. I can have hot coffee if it has some milk in it at the least but not just straight up black. And I prefer to have black coffee in the mornings so rain or shine, winter or summer, I have straight black iced coffee every morning. And girl … mama likes a lot of ice. As in, “would you like some coffee with that ice” amount of ice. J got me a nugget ice machine (the soft, round ice) for my birthday and it has been a game changer for my iced coffee. I am now officially writing my longest blog paragraph ever all about ICE but what I typically like to do is create a “base” with regular cubed ice to chill my freshly brewed coffee with. I like dumping hot coffee over it because it shrinks the cubed iced to a very satisfying shape and size and slightly dilutes the coffee, which for some odd reason I really enjoy. Then I top off the latter half with my good ice. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk on ice.

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Chug iced coffee and come to life.

I usually have a second cup of coffee after lunch and for my 2nd cup of the day, I still like it iced but I’ll add some oat milk to it. I find the slight sweetness from the milk is a good pick-me-up midday and satisfies my post-lunch sweet tooth a little bit too. I make it pretty much the same way I do in the morning, with *surprise* tons of ice, but just add oat milk at the bottom first.

Chug and get on with my day. Also .. please ignore the eyebrows. We’re in month 2349 of quarantine and everything is closed, I haven’t had my eyebrows done in a very, very long time.

That’s it for this month’s Let’s Look! If you’re curious about what the topics for the rest of the year are (or are a blogger and want to join!), here’s the graphic that gives the 2021 topics!