If you rely on coffee like I do, you know how important the relationship is between you and that first cup of the day.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve been the owner of a regular coffee maker. After a few calamities with broken carafes and overflowing brew baskets in the mid ’00s, I surrendered to simply getting coffee at coffee shops. Living in the city, this was quite easy. There was always a coffee shop around the corner, including from my townhouse so all I had to do on a Saturday morning was walk around the block.

When I had my daughter I got a Keurig. Which at the time was this brand new invention and I thought it was the most fabulous thing ever. Just brew up a single cup of coffee whenever I wanted one? Amazing! 3 AM feeding? K-Cup! No sleep? K-Cup(s)! Fussy Baby? K-Cup!! Down to the last K-Cup? World Ending!!

After several years with the Keurig and K-cups I started to get annoyed when I needed to brew several cups in a row. On the weekends my husband and I would go through many cups of coffee, more if we had house guests. It also would have occasional operational issues – my solution was a couple of thunks on the top while my husband would actually take apart several pieces and clean away build up. There was also the reality that those K-cups aren’t exactly cheap, are so wasteful, and it was rare to ever get a really tasty cup of coffee.

Enter the Chemex. Ahhhhh… the Chemex, making a coffee lover’s perfect pot of coffee. I love my Chemex – it’s simply beautiful, takes up no room, and never breaks down. There is something so soothing to lovingly and carefully pour water from a bubbling kettle over freshly ground beans, knowing you would soon be able to have a most delicious cup of coffee. Sometimes this process took a bit longer than I’d prefer but for the most part it really never bothered me – although sometimes I would sneak a K-Cup in the middle of the afternoon.

A few months ago, however, the morning routine changed. All of a sudden my husband had to get up at 5:30 am. I found myself up by 6:00 am trying to be nice and helpful making a pot of coffee. My face scowling as I turned on the stove to heat up a kettle while standing in the freezing cold, dark kitchen to constantly pour hot water over freshly ground beans made me realize it was time to for a change.

Enter the programmable, automatic, new fancy coffee machine with a side hot water reservoir for tea or oatmeal or whatever.

This past week has been some of the most blissful coffee drinking outside of my favorite cafe {or my wonderful friend’s Nespresso machine}. To wake up not only to that delicious aroma throughout the house but to a big beautiful pot of piping hot coffee has felt so incredibly luxurious. Almost like there is a magical coffee fairy that has come bringing the gifts from the coffee gods every morning.

I know many of you have been using programmable coffee makers for years but this is the first for me in a very long time and I am loving every single minute of it. A delicious cup of coffee that made itself while I stayed under the covers. If you are (like I was) going through too many K-Cups to count, or are tired of pour-over at home, I seriously urge you to give a regular old coffee maker another try. I’d almost call it life changing.

I’m sorry Keurig and Chemex – it’s not you, it’s me.