I counted my coffee bags and hit 47, and that number hit me hard
So I keep a little notebook where I write down every bag of beans I buy, mostly out of boredom at work, and I finally added up the tally for this calendar year. 47 bags since January. At about $18 a bag that works out to $846, which is more than my car insurance for the year. The weird part is I only really loved maybe 6 of them. The rest were fine, drinkable, nothing I would tell a friend about. I think I got hooked on the hunt more than the actual drinking, always chasing some new roaster in Portland or a washed Ethiopian that a guy on reddit swore was life changing. Meanwhile there is a local place two blocks from my apartment I walked past for ages without trying, and their house blend is better than 40 of those 47 bags. Has anyone else done a count like this and felt a little silly about it, or am I the only one buying beans like they are trading cards?
Man, this hits close to home! I did the same thing last year and got to 38 bags before I made myself stop, and the sad part is the best cup I had all year came from a bag my sister left at my place when she visited. The chase is real and it gets you spending way more than you mean to, but at least you learned your lesson for the price of a car insurance bill.
Honestly gotta disagree with calling it a lesson learned, cause that implies the chase actually ends at some point and for most of us it just changes shape. You stopped at 38 bags but now every time you walk past a coffee shop or see a new roast drop online that itch comes right back. Tbh the real takeaway is that the best cup being a free hand me down proves the whole hunt is kinda made up in our heads, the good stuff was sitting on your counter the whole time. Ngl though I'd still probably do it all over again, the searching part is half the fun even when it costs way too much.