Savour the Flavour

Moving to Australia has brought many changes to my life.  Some of the changes are huge while others are subtle.  One of the differences between Australia and the States is the coffee.  I will be the first to admit I am no connoisseur.  The quality of coffee is directly proportionate to the size of the mug!   If I want a cup of coffee, I want more than a shot of espresso:  give me some volume!  When it comes to discerning the quality of coffee, however, I might be among the worst.  I am like Emile, the brother of the rat-gourmet chef Remy in Disney's Ratatouille.  Remy appreciated all the dynamic flavor combinations of food, but Emile would eat just about anything without even noticing.  Today's events were proof I still have far to go in appreciating good coffee!

I have a friend who works in the coffee business as a coffee roaster.  As we shared a "cuppa" this morning at his bustling shop, he asked a barista to provide a good espresso and a bad one.  He explained the principle of making coffee similar to how olive oil is squeezed in a press.  The weight of the press alone on the olives makes the extra virgin oil, the purest oil set aside for use in cooking.  The last drops from an olive press will be too bitter for cooking and would be used as fuel.  The reason why their coffee house is growing in popularity is because of the quality of the coffee, he said.  I confess I had a hard time not smiling in disbelief.  Is the coffee really that much better than at other places?  I mean, isn't coffee coffee?

As we sat down, two small cups of espresso were brought out.  I tried one which tasted like espresso I was familiar with.  Then I had a taste of the other which literally made me cringe.  It had a flavor so pungent, a taste so initially revolting, I wondered how anyone could drink such a thing.  "So, which one do you like more?"  I pointed to the one that I considered more drinkable, the first one.  Guess what?  It was the BAD coffee!  He took a sip of the rejected brew:  "This is the good one.  There is more of the flavour of the beans, a hint of peanuts, and some citrus."  I sat back in my seat amazed.  Here is a coffee professional telling me that I preferred the bad coffee, that my taste buds were telling me wrong!  The barista who made the coffee came out and asked which one I liked more.  When I pointed to the bad espresso he said without expression, "Interesting."  This morning only confirmed my coffee ignorance!

I continued to talk to my friend and sipped from one cup and then the other, comparing the two more carefully.  The first one tasted normal; there was nothing so different about it at all.  But the second cup was certainly different from any coffee I have ever had.  Once I was over the shock of the initial burst of flavour, I found that I actually could taste a hint of citrus.  It didn't seem so bitter as I tried it again and again.  I came to the conclusion that I initially preferred the taste I am accustomed to.  Apparently I make bad coffee!  Once I was convinced of my error, with an open mind I gave the good coffee another chance.

But consider the spiritual implications of this coffee experiment:  people prefer what they are accustomed to.  When I tasted the good coffee, I honestly did not like it with the first sip.  Without my friend's direction, I probably would have never tried it again.  I would have convinced myself that the second cup was not for me!  Because he confirmed that it was actually good coffee, and I trust his expertise as a professional in his field, I gave it another chance.  So often that is how it is in the Christian faith.  We have our opinions and ideas about what it means to live a Christian life.  We are content with our relationship with God.  Then someone comes around and tells us that we must repent and be filled with the Spirit and we immediately recoil!  This is something new, something unfamiliar to our experience.  But if we will just trust God and His Word, we will find that we have simply grown accustomed to our level of intimacy with God and see no reason to progress further.

God is so good to lead us gently.  He will never force His Spirit upon us.  My coffee-roasting friend decided to treat me to something really special.  I could have said, "Well, you can have all the good stuff to yourself.  That leaves more of the nasty stuff for me."  I can continue to decide I still like my own coffee my way and not learn from the professionals.  There's no such thing as a professional Christian, only professing ones by the grace of God.  Many believers have discovered a closeness with God that a handful of people ever personally experience.  For me, I want to have the closest relationship with God I can.  My flesh will resist at every point, but that is the desire of my soul.  I want to go for the good stuff, not be satisfied with the dregs.

As the song says, "Just a closer walk with Thee, grant it, Jesus, is my plea, daily walking close to Thee, let it be, dear Lord, let it be."  When Jesus turned water into wine, the master of the feast could immediately tell the best wine had been saved to last.  Though I am lame at discerning between excellent and poor coffee, may I always go for the highest quality relationship with my Saviour, Jesus Christ.  May I daily savour the flavour of a close walk with Jesus!