"Perfect Coffee Enjoyment!"

It is the first day of September! Where did the time go? Is it just me, or does time seem to fly by at warp speed? At any rate, here are entering the beautiful month of September. It is one of my favorite months and certainly my favorite time of year, fall…although it is not quite fall yet and I am not giving up on summer just yet.

The coming of fall reminds me of so many joyous and comforting things; leaves turning color and then falling to crunch underfoot, wool socks, lighting the fireplace, mulling cider, cooking with an abundance of apples and spice, grabbing a favorite sweater early in the morning and later in the evening, sipping a cup of steaming coffee outside in the early morning and feeling the new chill in the air, savoring the beautiful light as day comes to a close, enjoying the dark and shorter days…more time for candlelight and reading, and so much more. Yes, I love fall. 

All of this has me thinking today that life is not perfect, and no one ever said it would be, but life is pretty darned precious. Sure, there are those daily prickles, those people that rub you the wrong way, the depressing news that bombards us…but there is so much more. My vow for this fall is to tune into the joy and delights of the season, seeking peace and balance, while holding all in gratitude. I am just where I am supposed to be and am very grateful for that time and place on the planet. 

“Fall in love with your life, wake up early, buy your favorite coffee, go for walks, eat good food, wear what makes you feel confident, listen to your favorite music. Purposefully create these small moments that make you fall in love with your life.”  

Author unknown but appears in the fall edition of Bella Grace Magazine…one of my very favorite escapes into ecstasy.

Let’s consider a woman who probably enjoyed her life and invented a fantastic tool I use every day with the coffee I love to buy. 

Melitta Lesbischer was born in Dresden, Germany. Her father was a book salesman. Melitta was born into a family of successful male business people. She married Hugh Bentz, and they moved to America where she enjoyed the married life, well at least as much as she could that is. Melitta began her mornings much in the same way we do, with a cup of freshly brewed coffee. But rather than feel refreshed and focused, she grew more annoyed with each sip. All the brewing methods failed for her. “My mother, who had an excellent taste in coffee, was often irritated by the coffee grounds in her cup,” Horst Bentz, one of her sons, recalled decades later in an interview in a 1949 issue of Der Aufstieg, a German publication. However, Melitta had a passion for the brew and was extremely determined and resourceful. She created her own solution to this problem. 

One day in 1908, “on a whim” (according to the website) she poked holes in the top brass cup with nails. Then took a sheet of paper from her son’s school supplies to line the top of that cup. Putting the grounds in the cup's top that she had lined with the paper, she then poured hot water through it. To her delight, she had created a coffee that tasted significantly more aromatic. There were no more grounds at the bottom of the cup, and preparation was fast and simple. She called this “perfect coffee enjoyment.” In 1908, she patented her pour over coffee filter. The device became an instant success, and she employed her husband and son to promote the product. 

The need for all metals during World War I caused sales to fall off a little. But the company developed the same conical shaped filter made of ceramic material, still in conical style for the Melitta trademark and amazing coffee. In the 1960s, a plastic cone replaced the ceramic one. 

Today, the Melitta Group employed over 4,000 workers across the world. Not only is the company a pioneer in excellent coffee brewing, but it was, and still is, one of the most progressive in terms of employee benefits. They have a five-day work week, offer Christmas bonuses and a three-week vacation period for all employees. They helped to set the standard for other companies to follow later in the 20th century. 

Cheers, let’s raise a cup in honor of this pioneering woman!