The Coffee Was Bad, But the Lesson Was Strong

Because sometimes bad coffee is just bad thinking in disguise.

I love coffee and enjoy trying different types. I also don’t mind much spending on it as its the only material thing that’s been lately giving me a lot of pleasure. Not that I have a lot of coffee, I would have max 2 espresso a day.

Last month I got to know a work colleague was coming from Nigeria, the first thought that comes to me as soon as I get to know that someone is travelling from somewhere is to search if that place has coffee and can I get from there. I googled and found that Ethiopia is the origin of coffee in the 18th century. That’s it I immediately tried to find the best coffee there and asked my colleague to get it for me. It wasn’t easy for her as there is hardly and delivery system where she lives, she had to ask someone to get it for her.

When I got the coffee, I realised its the worst coffee I ever had. Probably roasted few months to a year back. My colleague absolutely had no idea about it as she doesn’t know anything about coffee. Now I am sitting on 2kg of very old tasteless coffee that I am sure I am not going to have.

Why the story ? I have been training myself a lot to think in first principles. And this exactly is the kind of thing I want to avoid in my life. If I would have thought with first principles, I would have rather asked a coffee enthusiast from Nigeria or someone who has had Nigerian coffee and asked them to get it for me, So that they know what they are buying. I just thought since coffee was first discovered in Ethiopia, everything anyone buys from there would be great.
This is obviously an assumption. First Principles teaches us to avoid assumptions as much as possible.

I do repent wasting the money, my friend’s efforts and the excitement on it, but hey, no lessons come for free I guess.
Next time you order coffee, don’t just because you think let’s try something new, if you love your coffee, ask a coffee expert, may be you are already having the best coffee.

Here is an interesting video by Elon that I keep seeing again and again