(Alternative title: Provisioning Lessons Not Learned Yet.)

We take our coffee seriously enough that back in 2009, when we were preparing to take the kids and Calypso to the Bahamas, Jeremy sized the inverter to be able to power the burr grinder that is used every day to grind beans. (A burr grinder makes even supermarket variety beans taste better than pre-ground coffee and would be my recommendation as the first step to upping your coffee game, if that matters to you.)

My favorite coffee in the world comes from Shenandoah Joe in Charlottesville. I’m not sure if it’s the backstory (I’ve known owner Dave since he was the dive coach at UVA and I was a mere club swimmer) that adds additional flavor or if the roasting is indeed that awesome, but it mattered enough to me that when we decided on that 2009 cruise, Dave was one of the first people I told. I needed to make sure we could access our morning joe!

Budgetary concerns have tightened the belt a bit these days. After extensive testing, we determined that the Eight O’Clock brand is our favorite of “available everywhere” beans - there are actually not a lot of options in the “whole bean” variety. That said, when shopping at the Price Chopper in Newport, Vermont, we found this Maine-roasted coffee that hit the spot. And it’s available to buy via mail!

We ordered 5 different varieties, based on some criteria I no longer remember, all in the 12 oz packages, trying to see which one(s) we liked enough to buy in bulk. (Wicked French and Sumatra, in case you’re interested.) Bulk is cheaper, by about $.10 an ounce. You might have thought I’d learned this lesson almost exactly 1 year ago: price is not the only cost to consider!

Those 2 lb bags that just arrived in the mail? They’re surprisingly large. Imagine the size of the 5 lb bag! When I open one, I need to put half of it into a ziploc while the other half is in my vacuum coffee container. The bags themselves are harder to stash in the odd-shaped lockers that comprise most of my onboard food storage.

Budgetary concerns aside, the hassle is not worth it. Large sizes of most things, for us on Calypso, aren’t economical despite what the dollar sign says.

How many more times will I have to learn this lesson? Sigh.