When I was quite young, I really didn't like to drink coffee. What I did love was the smell of coffee brewing! Even to this day, when I smell freshly brewed coffee, my pleasure centers wake right up!

If the coffee has been brewed in an old-fashioned pot on the stove, I am flooded with memories of my grandmother’s kitchen. I am reminded of how much love we shared. When I feel really nostalgic for those times, I just have to brew up a pot of strong coffee on the stove, sit at my kitchen table, and go back to those happy days of my childhood.

When I was a teenager, I drank coffee to help me stay awake at night studying for exams.
After school, I would drink a cup of hot coffee with Grandma at her kitchen table. We would sit and talk about how my classes were going. Her kitchen still had that same wonderful aroma that I remembered from my childhood.

Once I became an adult, I started to drink coffee with friends and family. It really became a social thing. At some point, I began drinking coffee to wake me up in the morning and as a companion while I read a book or talked on the phone. Most of the time, I would use a percolator to brew my coffee. Although the coffee still smelled and tasted good, it seemed to be missing something. It just wasn’t the same as Grandma’s coffee brewed in that old pot on the stove.

Then I had children who didn’t like the taste of coffee. Since I missed that special smell of coffee brewed on the stove, I would get out Grandma’s old coffee pot. When I brewed the coffee on the stove top in that old pot, my children loved the smell.

When they would come home from school, I would sit at my kitchen table with them to talk over their day. We enjoyed our time talking and drinking our coffee. They said that they loved the smell of the coffee brewing on the stove. It reminded them of being at Grandma’s house.

Now they are grown and have families of their own. Now I am the grandmother. Although I usually use a coffeemaker on the counter, sometimes I just have to get that old-fashioned pot out and brew the coffee on the stove top.

Coffee is pretty much the same as it was back when I was growing up. However, the choices are practically unlimited. Yes, I can still brew it on the stove top. I can use my fancy coffeemaker with the clock on it and the timer that will have it brewed before I get out of bed.

But when my grandson comes over, he asks me to make him some coffee in that old pot on the stove top. Although I use decaffeinated coffee now, it still tastes great! That wonderful aroma fills the house. We sit at the kitchen table and talk about his day at school. Funny how some things never change.