Black Coffee, Straight Bourbon, Maduro—Always

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I like my coffee black. Not because it’s edgy or disciplined or some personality trait I’m trying to signal. I like it black because I want to taste the coffee. If I’m going to drink it, I want to know what it actually is. Same with bourbon. Straight. No ice. No apology. But tequila will do just fine especially if it’s Don Julio 1942. And not a shot, just a slow easy sipping of this guy.

And cigars? A maduro is the only way and my favorite is a Padron 1964 Anniversary Series. Which is not a smoke partake in often, but when I do, it’s got to be a Padron.

Drinking coffee back, bourbon straight or smoking a Padron isn’t about toughness. It’s about clarity.

At some point in life, you stop sweetening things just to make them easier to swallow. You stop pretending you like what you don’t. You stop adjusting your preferences to make other people comfortable.

You order what you want.

Not because I’m trying to be difficult—but because I’ve learned that taste is personal, and so is confidence. You earn both slowly, and you lose them quickly if you keep negotiating them away.

Black coffee wakes me up without pretending it’s dessert.
Straight bourbon doesn’t rush me.
A Padron cigar takes its time and expects me to do the same.

There’s a theme there, if you’re paying attention.

I don’t need everything softened now. I don’t need it dressed up. I don’t need the extra steps. I like things that are what they say they are.

That doesn’t make me rigid. It makes me settled. And I’m finally comfortable ordering it that way.