I, from the age of 5, carried a big cup of strong coffee to my Daddy every weekday to greet him when he got home from the mine in Wise Co. Va. He liked a saucer under the cup, would pour a bit of coffee over the edge of the cup into the saucer, take off one boot, take a sip from the saucer, pour some more into the saucer, take off his other boot, sip some more, then drink the rest from the cup. I watched this ritual day after day. He always said…that’s some good coffee, girl….I never drank a sip cause he wanted it real hot. He said it had to be hot to cut the coal dust he had swallowed all day. I am an old woman now almost 70…I have a big strong cup of coffee every morning. Daddy used to say he liked coffee strong enough to float an iron wedge. I don’t use a saucer but cool mine with milk….and never dip nothing in it. If my old husband makes it too strong, we always call it….too wedgey…and we smile and think of Daddy.
—Kat Swanson
Recently The Deer Hunter shared how he makes coffee in a percolator. A lot of folks commented about how much coffee he used, like Kat’s daddy he likes it strong.
I used to drink coffee of a morning before I had to quit for health reasons. I had to have cream in mine and that one cup was all I wanted.
Pap, Granny, and The Deer Hunter will drink coffee all day long. Pap and Granny would order coffee if they were eating in a restaurant, well Granny still does.
I love Kat’s daddy saying he wanted his coffee strong enough to float and iron wedge. I’ve heard folks say it’s colder than an iron wedge. One time I heard The Deer Hunter’s uncle say he’d like to be up on Hyder Mountain in a wet sheet with a cold iron wedge in each hand 🙂 It was cold outside and he was teasing about the weather.
I’ve also heard smarter than an iron wedge—which is not very smart and prettier than an iron wedge—which could mean either not so pretty or very pretty I guess depending on what you think of an iron wedge.
Last night’s video: Visit with Celebrating Appalachia.
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We don’t drink a lot of coffee in our house. So running a coffee maker was sort of a waste. We discovered (or should I say tried) ‘pour over’ coffee. Yes, you have to use a little gizmo to hold the filter & coffee (but it does sit nicely on your cup). We’ve found you can play around with the amount of coffee and end up with that perfect single cup. While the coffee water is boiling we always fill the destination mug with hot tap water to preheat things – it does make the coffee stay hotter longer.
And this is for your Tipper – you’ve never specifically mentioned the reason for having to give up coffee but my wife had to stop drinking it (IC). Until digging around on *mazon I found something called ‘Mommee Coffee’ which is low-acid & decaf. Now my wife can enjoy a few cups of coffee a week without having the IC relegate her to a day of pain….
Anyway, look forward to more garden videos and the dawn of spring, both for you at Brasstown and us in north Alabama.
JD-I have the same thing as your wife. Thank you for the tip about the coffee 🙂
Thats a good story. I remember my dad would heat the water in a whistling Tea Kettle. The sound when it was ready. Daddy drank his coffee real strong. He would put 4 to 5 heaping teaspoons full. He would always say, that will get ip and walk.
I’ve never developed a taste for coffee – hot, iced, coffee milk (a RI thing) or anything coffee flavored- but my father liked it black. My son, who is so much like him and named after him, also drinks it black. Do your coffee-drinking family members have a favorite mug they always take their coffee in?
Joan- mine did have a favorite 🙂
Thanks to Kay for sharing her memories of her dad and coffee. I recall someone in my family tipping their coffee on a saucer, but for the life of me I can’t remember who it was. I’m thinking it was one of my grandparents, but will have to ask my sisters if they remember who it was. Great stories, thank you all for sharing!
Talk about getting side tracked…..I read your post, and another post, then ran across your orange candy slices, cake, printed that recipe and that lead to a pic of your wedding and then running across your mother in-laws comment about you. I thought you might like to remember her words today, in case you had forgotten she said this about you, maybe it’ll brighten your day?
Miss Cindy said:
February 7, 2014 at 7:53 am
Tipper, I remember this rhyme from elementary school. That would have been in the 50’s. My memory of the rhyme was kids teasing each other about a boyfriend. I don’t remember it used with hand clapping or jump rope.
I also remember the day of the above picture. I knew it was a good marriage then and with time to know you better I’ve come to see how perfect you and the Deer Hunter are for each other. If I had gone looking for a wife for my only son I could never have found anyone that matched him as well as you do. I thank god for you on a daily basis.
Lorie-thank you for sharing Miss Cindy’s kind words about me and for reading. Very nice to read her comment this morning 🙂
Thanks for sharing this story. I love coffee too, but it causes me issues if I drink too much, and I can’t sleep if I drink it after noon. I always wonder how people drink coffee and then go to bed. I guess it’s because God made us all different. We are looking forward to seeing you in April in Ringgold.
I’m with Matt on the strong coffee. I like mine with creamer and a tad bit of sugar but I also like a very strong coffee taste. Has Matt ever tried death wish coffee? It’s a little on the expensive side but their dark roast is the best if you like it strong!
Cassie-he hasn’t tried that 🙂 I will have to get him some!
That’s such a sweet story. My Papaw taught me to sip from a saucer when I was eight. I think of him with every cup.
We loved the live feed yesterday…can’t wait for the next one….God Bless Granny and you guys.
KAT SWANSON MY DAD WORKED AT AMERICAN ENKA CORPORATION FOR 29 YEARS. WHEN HE WORKED THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT AND WOULD RIDE THE BUS HOME THE FIRST THING HE WANTED WHEN HE WALKED IN THE DOOR WAS A HOT CUP OF COFFEE IN A SAUCER. HE WOULD POUR THE COFFEE INTO THE SAUCER AND SIP IT THEN HE WOULD LIGHT UP A LUCKY STRIKE CIGARETTE AND COMPLAIN HOW HARD HIS WORK WAS. HE WORKED IN MAINTENANCE AT THE COTTON MILL AND REPAIR EQYIPMENT. STRIP THE GREASE AND OILS OFF OF WHATEVER HE WAS WORKING ON THEY DID HAVE FANS BUT FURNACES WHERE THEY WORKED IYTSIDE WAS 110 OR MORE AND WHEN THEY WERE CUTING A PIECE OF MACHINERY THE TEMPERATIRE IN THE FURNACE WAS 18 HUNDRED DEGREES. AND SOMETIMES UT WOULD TAKE 48 HOURS TO BAKE THE LAQUER ON THE METAL PARTS. THIS WAS IN 1949 AND HE GOT PAID $40.00 A WEEK. YOU REMINDED ME WHEN YOU SAID YOUR FATHER DRANK HIS COFFEE OUT OF A SAUCER. MOST PEOPLE TODAY DONT HAVE A CLUE HOW HARD IT WAS BACK IN THE 1930’S AND 1940’S. THAT’S KAT FOR REMINDING ME.
My grandmother often would turn on a “tape recorder” at family gatherings long before video/audio modern recording devices appeared and “captured” my granddaddy on tape saying “that coffee is strong enough to float an iron wedge”. He was a coal miner/WW2 veteran born in 1913. I’ve heard it several time in life spoke by others.
Regarding coffee:
Perculated Coffee Recipe (what I use):
1 rounded tablespoon of your favorite brand of ground coffee for every 8 ounces of water
Heat until the water begins to appear in the glass, reduce heat to the point where the water barely
bubbles into glass. The next part is up to each individual taste, but I let my pot perc for 10 minutes (less is weaker/longer is stronger).
After ten minutes, I turn off the heat and allow the coffee to settle for another ten minutes.
Pour a cup and enjoy.
my dad would always say he liked his and strong and black and it would put hair on your chest and my oldest sister liked her coffee black and she put a biscuit in her coffee
People around my part of northwest Alabama call a biscuit crumbled in hot black coffee “soakey”.
I had a G-grandaddy that wanted nothing for breakfast but “soakey”. I believe the name may have been a carry over from the War Between the States. I have read stories of soldiers soaking hardtack in coffee and they called it “soakey” too.
I remember my mom having a glass percolator when I was child and I loved the smell of coffee percolating on the stove. My dad was the only coffee drinker in our family until I grew up and began drinking it in college; now my brother has finally begun drinking it as well. Dad always liked “cowboy coffee,” meaning really strong, but he’s very particular about the freshness; it can’t have been in the pot for more than an hour, otherwise he makes a new batch. He still drinks it all day. I have to stop at two cups in the morning. Has anyone ever made it with an egg and the eggshell in it? That’s supposed to add richness to the coffee, but I have never tried it that way.
I drank my first cup of coffee at a Christian youth camp where my then boyfriend, now husband, and I were counselors. It was bitterly cold, and I’ve seldom enjoyed a well sweetened and whitened cup of hot brew as much as that one. Before I retired, I drank it black during the week and treated myself with to cream on the weekends. My mom always used canned milk in hers, and her mother preferred her coffee so weak, it was just brown flavored water. Nowadays I’m spoiled. Husband makes the coffee when he gets up so it’s all ready for me. Love the various expressions. The ones I know are strong enough to make your hair stand on end and strong enough to hold your spoon upright.
An iron wedge can make a body part ‘smart’ should it come down, if it doesn’t break something in the process.
I was about 12 when my mother began drinking coffee at home. She worked the night shift at hospital, so at 10:15 every evening, I made a cup of coffee with milk & took it in to her so she could start waking from her nap. Had her uniform pressed and shoes whitened before going to bed myself.
Now, for myself, I did work the nightshift at a hospital too. But, my husband made me a cup of coffee at 6 p.m. before I went in for my nap. (Years later, I learned that coffee had a reverse affect on me.) Tried to make own coffee but it never turned out quite ‘right’. Don’t touch it these days.
My mother loved her coffee. She kept a pot going all day. On cold windy days in the winter, my uncle Roy used to say, “I’d like to be sitting on the top of Cold Mountain with nothing but a wet sheet wrapped around me.” That must have been a popular saying years ago. Since our view is dominated by Cold Mountain, I guess that’s why he used that mountain in his saying. All the kids would laugh at the absurdity of the thought. The only thing I remember my family saying about a “wedge” is “It’s colder than a wedge today.”
I have three iron wedges. One is thick and two are a little thinner. I also have two plastic wedges. I use them all to fell trees that are leaning the wrong way. I also make wooden wedges (also called gluts) for the same purpose. I use the gluts mostly for when the saw gets stuck and I need to open up the cut to get it out. Using iron wedges for that is risky as saw teeth and pieces of iron are mortal enemies.
My daddy loved black coffee & I have heard him describe it floating an iron wedge when it was too strong. He loved that coffee & I wanted to have some & he would never let us kids drink it…said it would make our toes black!
Daddy teased that he liked his black coffee strong enough to walk. I can’t imagine drinking my strong coffee without Coffeemate and plenty of it. I must not be the only person addicted to the creamer as it’s often sold out at the grocery store even though the price has nearly doubled in a few years. When I broke the carafe on my auto-drip coffee maker, I brewed my coffee in a stove-top aluminum pot until I could buy a new one. It took way too long to brew but I have to admit it tasted better.
I make my coffee strong enough to Float a Horseshoe. I only drink that until dinner/lunch time. I drink decaf until suppertime for my health but on purpose sometimes I will “forget” and use regular … HaHa. “Way to go for us mountain folk”
I come from a coffee drinking family. I have the fondest memories of an aunt who drank the blackest, strongest and hottest coffee I ever saw. If she and my uncle were visiting us, someone always made sure she didn’t make the coffee, or no one could drink it. Like Randy said, I do believe a spoon would have stood up in her cup. She also could drink it boiling hot with no saucer. My uncle said he thought it was still boiling in her mouth when she swallowed it. I still have never seen anyone drink it that hot or strong. There is no telling how much coffee she bought at the grocery store. Loved the comment about the iron wedge. I also enjoyed the “live” last night, also Katie and Corie’s.
I used to drink coffee all day – usually about 4 pots sometimes more. When my doctor said I needed to switch to decaffeinated I had to quit. I tried several brands and couldn’t find any that tasted right. Some were downright awful. I’ve heard coffee should be strong enough to float a horse shoe until it dissolves. Now I drink a little bit of tart cherry juice at breakfast to keep the gout under control, Milk at lunch and water all day long.
I remember my Uncle Bill from Wedowee, Al drinking coffee from saucer. My cousins would drink coffee before their chores on the farm.
My Mamaw Drinnon would drink coffee everyday and through the day. But in the summer she would still drink it hot and eat hot pepper from the garden, sweating and tears roll down her face. That’s the way she liked it.
My grandad liked his coffee poured into the saucer as well. It had to have cream and sugar. I remember him saying coffee wasn’t good until it’d been saucered and blowed.
Me and the dogs go for a walk first thing every morning have a good run then back home for coffee and biscuits,like Matt I like it strong.
My father’s comment about making coffee strong was that it didn’t take as much water to make coffee as some people thought. He liked his coffee strong.
Oh I love that story. What sweet memories. My 5 year old son loves to climb on a chair and help make the coffee and he always loves to take a little sip. My husband bought him a tiny mug and pours a little for him. He told him to take it black to put some hair on his chest, so now when Isaac helps me he says “I’d like my own mug mama, but don’t put any creamer in it because I want some hair on my chest.” I don’t like to give him any so I’m sure he’ll have good memories of daddy always giving him the tiniest mug of coffee when mama said he was too young.
I drink hot black coffee but guess I am to be included among the deplorables who like it “weak”. A heaping tablespoon per cup is enough for me. I find the bitter flavor of coffee brewed any stronger than that overwhelming.
The place I retired from had a cafeteria. When I would go in to work at 10:00 PM, I would stop by to get a cup of coffee. The ladies there believed in strong coffee. I would taste a sip and say “If you have any of this left over at the end of your shift, save it for me. I need to patch some holes in my driveway.” They would throw stuff at me!
PS: I’ve never had a paved driveway.
SO PHOEBE YOU KNOW WHAT THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT IS YD TIY GO TO WORK AT 10PM
25 years!
I love the coffee story and the comments. My Papa also drank “saucer blowed coffee” and he loved cream and sugar in it. He would let me taste some and it was so good. I didn’t drink coffee for many years, but as I have become more aged like a fine wine (hahaha), I began drinking a coffee every morning and I love it. It gets me warmed up and going and ready for the day. Randy, you never fail to amuse us with your quips…..my Daddy used to say the same thing!
My son uses a lot of Coffeemate in his coffee. He only drinks coffee on the weekends. He likes to use some of the flavored creamers. I tease him and tell him him if I wanted something to taste like vanilla, I would buy me a milkshake and also tease and ask him if he wants any coffee to go along with the flavored Coffeemate and sugar. How can anyone drink ice cold coffee? The coffee I mentioned my Grandaddy liking was Luzianne, I couldn’t think of the correct spelling. Most people I knew when growing up pronounced like it had a “y” in the name.
My other comment was meant for Shirl, I don’t know how it got down here. I will be 70 years old on February 20th and instead of being fine wine, I am just old and rusty. I have given the lady members advanced noticed, I will be expecting a cake on my birthday but I don’t want a suicidal cake. My father in law would tease his daughters when they made a cake and would call it a suicide cake.
Somebody, might as well be me, will say they like coffee strong enough to float a horseshoe. I expect there are all kinds of variations on that theme around the country. Over the years. because of lack of sleep, I kept cutting back till I reached just 2 mugs in the morning. A side effect – oddly – is I wake up now at all hours between midnight and 6AM and often give up and get up. Along the way I have discovered the dark roast coffee has the “body” I want and incidentally the lowest amount of caffeine. I think I probably could quit cold turkey if I wanted. But I’ll put that notion in my hip pocket for harder times when I’m figuring what I can do without.
People don’t have any idea how coal miners breathed in the black dirt and dust all day giving them black lung like I’m sure Kay’s daddy contracted by his job. My grand daddy trucked coal every day and he was up at 4 am every day and in bed by dark. He used to say “ Get up boys and pee on the rock! It ain’t quite day but it’s 4 o’clock! I don’t want want you but the captain do and I hate to call you but I have it to do!” Id see the light in the kitchen on and toddle in there to my Bobby. He’d make scrambled eggs and hot sauce and he’d make mine and put ketchup on so it wasn’t hot. To this day if I got scrambled eggs, I need ketchup! Lord, God knows I miss Bobby and them days long gone! Btw there’s no better heat than fossil fuels and you’d freeze to death in WV with a stupid heat pump. I love coffee and my two joys are the morning cup and somewhere in the late afternoon around 3ish. I hate cowboy coffee ( the strong thick syrup) but can’t stand watered down Java either. I’m in the happy medium crowd and I adore the percolator! I charge no extra for grinds between your teeth. Lol a wet heavy snow this morning but the streets are not covered at all. It’s school today, bad kids! Lol
Luzianne coffee is made of a mixture of coffee and roasted chicory root. Stronger flavor, less caffeine.
I love coffee. It’s one of the many things I look forward to when waking up. If our power is out, I don’t worry about being able to cook or wash clothes—I worry about not having my morning cup of coffee. In all seriousness, I just love the comfort of a morning cup of hot, black coffee and reading this blog. I can only have a small amount of caffeine these days, so if I need a second cup, it has to be decaf. I love the taste so much that I keep instant decaf for my afternoon craving. My mama used to drink instant Maxwell House coffee all day long. I think she needed the caffeine to keep up with all four of her energetic children and do all the housework—without all the modern conveniences we have these days.
I love the picture Kat painted in my mind of her father coming home from the mines. My husband came home covered in coal dust everyday for many, many years. He didn’t want coffee as soon as he got home. He wanted to head straight to a hot shower to get cleaned up. He went through lots of Dawn dish liquid. It worked wonders getting soot and grease from his hands and hair both. I am so glad now that he’s retired, he only needs some Dawn to wash grease off his hands from working on his car, lawn mower, or something else around the house.
Never heard “float an iron wedge” but my daddy loved his coffee boiling in the cup and often asked me to heat it up because it was colder than an “iron wedge” (he was a big fan of the microwave).
I always like my coffee a bit stronger than most
My grandmother made “hobo coffee” most of her life. She had a special pan. Fill it with water. Bring to a boil. Throw is some coffee and let it steep until the grounds sunk to the bottom, then pour into a cup. One Christmas her son bought her a new-fangled coffee machines. She used it once or twice, but went back to hobo coffee. She insisted everyone drink something hot in the morning. The coffee was mostly for my grandfather. Her choice was usually hot water with a slice of lemon, maybe a bit of honey. She lived to be 92 years of age with no major health problems. This year she would 114 years old. I miss the heck out of her. “Hi, Grandma!!!”
We start our day with coffee, my husband gets it ready in our coffee maker the night before so that the switch can be flipped on. When we’re camping we use a stove top coffee percolator a lot of the times and it really is very good! I drink mine with cream and my husband drinks his black. We’re also tea drinkers during the day, but I have to watch the caffeine or I don’t sleep at night. Thank you for the story, it was interesting!
I thought Matt’s coffee was perfect. I use a percolator and like my coffee strong, black and very hot. My husband hates it that way. He uses a French press and grinds beans. I always enjoy your videos.
I have gotten your emails of the blind pig for several years, but for 2 days ( Sunday 28 and Monday 29 I have not gotten it.
Do I haft to sigh up again
Love your site ITS LIKE I GREW UP
Patricia Allen
Patricia-when I looked I saw you opened today’s post so hopefully it worked itself out 🙂 If not let me know. Thank you!
I have never heard of an iron wedge (other than maybe a golf club?) Is it referring to the old irons that were heated for clothes? Do you have a picture?
Linda-it is a splitting wedge often used to cut big pieces of stove wood 🙂
70 years is not old!
Maybe not, but it’s a far cry from being a spring chick or still wet behind the ears. I will be 70 in a few weeks.
MARY YOU ARE RIGHT. I HOPE TO B 83 MARCH 10 2024.
You learn something new every day. Well, I guess I never heard anything about an iron wedge until today. It’s funny the sayins we grow up with.
I didn’t think Matt put in too much as I like my coffee strong too. I have been drinking black coffee sine I was 5. My parents we depression kids so coffee was a staple. We had a pot going all day. when I first started drinking it I put so much sugar in it that it all would not dissolve. Then one day my mom followed me around the house, as she often did, reading aloud the evils of too much sugar from the Prevention magazine. I stopped cold turkey. Now I can’t stand any kind of sugar getting into my coffee. Also, I can drink it from any kind of container except glass. I don’t know why but if I’m served it in glass in a restaurant I ask if they have a ceramic or paper cup I can transfer it to. Isn’t that weird??
Coffee. Both parents drank it, but out of their 5 children, I am the only one who carries on the tradition. I was never a heavy coffee drinker until I got old and discovered I’m usually cold or at least feel that way. Now, I begin every day with hot coffee and Blind Pig & the Acorn and within an hour or two, I pour my next cup of heat. I drink coffee throughout the day and have a cup before bed. It keeps these old bones warm in a cold clime.
For many years I never drank coffee, I now will drink one to two cups at breakfast but none during the rest of the day, it does not bother me to do without it. I don’t like real strong coffee, and will add one teaspoon of sugar and a little bit of cream, hardly enough to change the color. Not a wedge, but I would tell my wife a spoon would stand up in the cup if she made the coffee. Her Daddy would drink coffee from the time he got up until he went back to bed. I am more of a sweet ice tea drinker, but not as much now as I once dranked. My Grandaddy like to drink his coffee out of a saucer, I remember it being Louisi Ann or something similar to a name like that. One of my coworkers would add a tiny bit of salt to the coffee grounds when he made his coffee, he said it would take the bitterness out of it. This is a little off color, but I heard my Daddy and other men tease and say they liked their coffee like their girlfriends- sweet, blonde and hot!