It is human nature to pay attention to what is new and different. Our brains ignore what is too familiar. Drink the same flavor of coffee time after time, and your attention does not focus on its aroma and flavor. You just cannot get much enjoyment from that same old cup of joe. Drink a new flavor of coffee and your taste and smell senses are turned on full. Your brain analyses the flavor, compares the taste to what you have tasted before, and makes all the analysis it can to determine if your pleasure centers should be turned on. Drinking that new brew becomes a full experience, the mind engaged in taste sensations – with pleasure reactions readied and awareness peaked.
Use that aspect of human nature to get more enjoyment out of drinking coffee. Have 6, or better yet, 8 or more different flavors of coffee in your repertoire of on-standby favorite brews. The 8 flavors need not be exotic. Some possible choices are instant coffee, standard ground roast from your local supermarket, perhaps custom roasted coffee that you roast and grind yourself (it’s not that hard to do), and a few flavor ingredients that can be added when your hunger calls for one of them to arouse your pleasure.
The flavors can be nut and seed butters such as hazelnut, walnut, pecan, tahini (sesame seed butter), roasted almond, chestnut, and even fruit and vegetables such as blueberry and bell pepper. Nut butters mix easily in hot coffee, so does fruit juice concentrates. Just about any vegetable or fruit can be added by using a blender. A coffee press or coffee filter paper will eliminate vegetable and fruit particles.
It helps to get a little jiggy with it. Be adventurous and inventive. Awareness is heightened by experiencing the unfamiliar. Each new first taste has the excitement of the possibility of discovery of a new enjoyment. Coffee drinking becomes the pay-off time of previous experimentation efforts. The flavors are more appreciated for having a little bit of your heart and soul invested in the experience.
The flavor of coffee can be enjoyed in other ways than as a drink. Coffee flavor can be enjoyed in puddings, biscuits, thickened liquids, crumb texture, and other food types. Get some recipes and try them.
Moving on to the unfamiliar makes a return to the familiar more enjoyable. Try new flavors and enjoy them. When you get the yearn for a familiar, favorite taste, indulge yourself. You’ll enjoy that favorite more when it’s one of many options.
Treat yourself to more pleasure. Make a decision to increase the pleasure in your life. Developing a fondness for what is new, will encourage you to find new pleasures. Get some new recipes for making new brews to boost your enjoyment. Keep the recipes handy. Alter the recipes every now and then, and add new ones. Enjoy that morning pleasure that is laying dormant, waiting to be boosted to a higher level of awareness and pleasure. And be alert for other new ways to add to your repertoire of pleasures.
