My name is Josh Martin and I have an addiction.

Isn't that the first step to recovery? But I'll have to admit this is an addiction I hope never subsides. I'm not necessarily addicted to the caffeine, but the concept of coffee itself.

This love affair started later on in life. It all began about five years ago when I was going to seminary in Memphis. I was living in Jonesboro while attending Mid-America Baptist seminary and the commute began to take its toll on me. I had to rise up early to ensure getting to school at 8:00 a.m. and on the way home I longed for a nap so passionately I barely made it home. After almost of year of this, the pangs of addiction began to surface.

While attending summer classes at seminary I was so tired from getting up early that I decided to maybe try a cup of coffee. The concept of coffee repulsed me up to this point. My dad would drink "black" coffee over breakfast and when I got married my wife subscribed to the nasty habit as well. Coffee had a great aroma, but the taste made we want to vomit. But I was at a point in my life where I was either going to snooze through these summer classes or take affirmative action to abolish this grogginess. So I stepped into an Exxon in Germantown and began what has become a life long affair with coffee.

At the expense of frugalness we bought generic coffee at first. But then my taste buds began craving something with a little more flavor so we ventured to Folders. But one taste of Maxwell House and I threw out my former brand of coffee. Also I enjoyed the fancier drinks like Mochas and Lattes. When I worked at a local Christian bookstore in Jonesboro it almost became a habit to drop by a coffee shop on the way to work. And then one day it happened: I realized I was addict.

While at work one day I accidentally spilled some of my fancy coffee on the counter. All I could think of was that all that goodness was wasted and I wouldn't be able to enjoy those wasted drops of warm liquid gold. I felt saddened at my lost and it was at this point I knew that I was in too deep to ever considering escaping. I was one of the many victims in the clutches of this caffeine saturated beverage.

But the inauguration didn't end there. After years of falling in love with coffee I found myself with a coffee-addict's dream job: a barista. Now baristas aren't those guys in a bar flying bottles around and mixing drinks like the movie Cocktail with Tom Cruise. Baristas are the people that make all the fancy coffee drinks. So I found myself enveloped in the land of coffee and even making my lively hood from it! It was while working at the coffee shop that my taste buds began to become arrogant.

I began to experience the taste of fresh roasted coffee beans. Also I learned how to properly brew coffee so that it would have premium taste. Now when I find myself at a hotel or at a friend's house they put on a pot of coffee I honestly wince. I've become so adapted to supreme tasting coffee that I've become a bit of a coffee snob.

In fact a bulk of my co-workers who stuff papers on Wednesday are feigning for my fancy coffee by the time I walk through the doors. Before even saying hello some of the first words out of their mouths are "need coffee!"

So if you share the love of coffee as deeply as I do, let me give you a few tips on how to acquire great tasting coffee. First, use filtered water. All that chlorine and chemicals in tap water give coffee a harsher quality. Second, grind your own beans. And try to get them local because you know their fresh. Also get a coffee grinder (preferable a kind called a "burr grinder"). When you buy ground coffee, a lot of flavor has seeped out of the bean meaning you miss some of the richness. And lastly, if you like strong tasting coffee, purchase a French press. You can get these at most local retailers. I don't use mine much because I enjoy a less intense taste, but the French press captures the fullest flavor of coffee beans.

So I've made my public confession for my love of coffee. I'm an addict, but I'm not looking for freedom any time soon.