“I’d rather take coffee than compliments just now.” – Louisa May Alcott.

For those of us who love our morning Joe, this quote from the author of “Little Women” makes perfect sense. Those who aren’t aficionados of the aromatic, caffeinated beverage may find this column a bit cumbersome.

However, since over 73% of people in the US drink coffee every day and the fact that global coffee industry is expected to reach $585 billion in revenue this year, I’m pretty sure that the majority of readers start their day with a cup-a-Joe.

As habits go, it’s not a bad one. Drinking coffee has been linked to a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, and infections. It’s been shown to improve exercise performance, control appetite and may even reduce cognitive decline.

As Mike Ditka (playing himself in the movie “Kicking and Screaming”) explains to Will Ferrell’s newly caffeinated character, “Coffee is the lifeblood that fuels the dreams of champions.”

“What’s that haunting aroma?” Ferrell’s character asks as he walks into a coffee shop and asks for a half-caf. He soon becomes an expert, and starts bringing his own expresso machine to the soccer games he coaches. All kidding aside, coffee does indeed fuel the day for many of us.

And we all have our preferred style; with or without milk, creamer, soy, almond or oat “milk,” sugar or sweetener. Some prefer freshly ground beans, others like pods, pour-overs, lattes, espressos, cappuccinos – and even iced coffee. The options are endless.

Most of us make regular visits to our favorite coffee shop or drink whatever is available in the breakroom at work, but a true coffee connoisseur also has some semblance of coffee maker at home on their kitchen counter – perhaps a few feet away from the toaster.

It’s easy to spend a small fortune on a coffee maker and those “barista bars” can run into the thousands of dollars. They seem to do everything. They grind, they brew, they steam, they froth and sometimes they even ice! Browse through them at a fancy kitchen store and it’s almost like buying a new car – there are just that many options.

My husband and I depend on our morning brew to get us going, and we’ve owned a variety of machines over the years; starting with the basic drip, then moving on to a Keurig and the accompanying pods. We were introduced to Nespresso pods while staying in a fancy-ish hotel and stuck with those for a while. He loves them, while I find them too strong for my “creamer with coffee” taste. I use a stand-alone milk frother for my almond milk creamer while he prefers his coffee unadorned.

We had a scare awhile back when our Keurig malfunctioned due to a scaling incident. Bereft and uncaffeinated, my husband drove to the nearest Starbucks and returned with three to-go cups (his morning allocation). After that jarring incident, I vowed to always keep a jar of Taster’s Choice in the cupboard. You just never know – and instant coffee isn’t that bad.

One day, having tired of waiting for what seemed like eternity for a pod to brew; my husband suggested we purchase a coffee maker with an auto feature. This would mean having a fresh, hot pot ready for upon waking which seemed almost too good to be true.

Since I didn’t want to give up my Duncan French Vanilla pods, we seemed to be an impasse… or were we? As luck would have it, Crate and Barrel had just the solution – a mid-range Cuisinart that offered both pod and auto-brew carafes!

It took us awhile to trouble-shoot our new coffee-maker after a failed pod attempt the first morning. Apparently, the auto-brew function overrides the pod – but we were not to be deterred. Armed with the instruction manual and a quick visit to the website, we stumbled upon a work-around. I’d make my Keurig cup and then switch the control over to auto-brew.

No problem. Except, in my morning fog and dog feeding multi-tasking, I kept forgetting that step and my husband stumbled into the kitchen only to find an empty pot. He was not a happy camper. I woke up to a post-it note stuck to the machine the next day.  It said, “After pod: Turn dial to AUTO and hit BREW!” It’s been a 50/50 success rate a few weeks in, but I’m a slow learner when it comes to technology…

We’ve run into a similar problem at hotels. Seems like every chain has a different in room coffee maker, and every morning it’s a struggle to decipher the instructions, especially while still groggy and searching for readers.

Is it even plugged in? Is there water in the reservoir? Is so, how long has it been there? What kind of pods are these? And sometimes they only stock the decaf! Are those powdered creamers safe for consumption? Sometimes, the best option is to throw on some semblance of clothing and make your way down the lobby for the free coffee at the breakfast buffet.

The things we do for our morning caffeine fix… does it really have to be this complicated?

“Coffee Klatch” – readers spill the beans on their coffee habits:

John Kelley – “I like Columbia Street Roastery. Better than anything a drive through place can make. Black Velvet and Escobar’s blend are our favorites.”

JB Buenting – “I get my coffee shipped from Magnum Coffee Roastery out of Nunica, MI. My flavor of choice is Maple Bourbon. Medium roast with a soft finish – so yummy!”

Amy Waller – “I bought a Nespresso coffee maker for Christmas and am loving lattes and cappuccinos every morning!”

Kelly Norton Warner – “I love coffee but had to switch to decaf a few years ago. Finding a strong flavorful decaf is a challenge but three make my list – Peet’s dark roast decaf, Intelligentsia decaf and Arbuckle’s Mexicali decaf (this one has a slight cinnamon chocolate flavor).”

Paula Hamilton – “I have never been a coffee drinker. Crazy but true. I do like the smell of coffee though!”