If you drink coffee it will be a rare occasion when anyone will make it just the way you like. There will be people in your life you will come to trust of course. But the ones who nail it will be few and far between.
My sister-in-law’s cup is a bit too sweet for my taste. But I don’t begrudge her. She comes from Mennonite stock and as far as I’ve seen, those folks love their corn syrup. Then there’s the people who pour 1% milk into coffee. Or worse yet cold almond, oat or soy milk. What gives!? On the other end of the spectrum, I have an aunt who uses whipping cream. So intense. When we visit the ranch my father-in-law resurrects the Ghost of Coffee Past into a steaming cup of disappointment.
The only surefire way I’ve found to get a reliable outcome is this:
When asked, “Would you like a cup of coffee?” and you answer in the affirmative, you will predictably be asked next how it is that you take it.
My answer is, “Cream if you got it, black if you don’t.” The next question – if they’re the kind that fancies preparing it – will be regarding how much cream.
And at some point in the last few years I began answering this query with a phrase that thrusts the conversation out of the doldrums of quantities and ratios, and into one of sunny aesthetics.
“Until it’s a pleasing colour,” I say.
Best results guaranteed.
I must issue a retraction. My sister-in-law is faithful to Roger's Golden, which is pure cane syrup. I am an oaf.