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My perfect Tuesday started with my morning coffee listening to a gobbling wild turkey in the woods behind the lake while the dogs took their morning constitutionals.
Photo provided by Nathaniel Maddux
Call me a coffee snob, but small-batch coffee is just better: better for the grower, the environment and the consumer. For just a few dollars more, you can replace your mass-produced coffee with an “ethically sourced” small batch coffee. My favorite thus far is the Grand Slam Blend from Niangua Coffee Company’s Field Collection. I must admit I’m a sucker for anything in Mossy Oak Green Leaf or Bottomland; however, what’s in that camo bag is even better. It’s the smoothest coffee I’ve ever had!
My perfect Tuesday ended under the stars and with a full moon over my shoulder listening to the Dave Matthews Band at the Brandon Amphitheater. It’s hard to beat live music in the outdoors! (Photo by Brad Dye)
It had been an amazing day, a day that had started with a gobbling turkey and had ended with a Dave Matthews Band show under the stars with the full moon over my shoulder. In the history of the Tuesdays in my life, I would say that it had to be at or near the top.
My perfect Tuesday started with my morning coffee listening to a gobbling wild turkey in the woods behind the lake while the dogs took their morning constitutionals.
As is our normal morning routine, I put the kettle on to boil when I came through the kitchen to take the dogs out for their morning constitutionals. Typically, we go out, I bring them back in to eat while I make my coffee, and then I head back out with them, cup in hand, to take care of the rest of their business.
Summer is making its presence known more with each passing day. Hot and dry has been the norm of late, but Tuesday was different. The temps had dipped into the 60s overnight, and watching the sunrise with a cup of coffee in my hand, the cool, crisp air felt wonderful.
I took a sip while watching the dogs search for the perfect spot in the yard, and as I lowered the cup, a murder of crows fired off a cacophony of caws behind the lake, which was met with the thunderous gobble of a turkey. I almost choked on my coffee.
Clearly, the cool, sunny morning had the longbeard “feeling his oats” as he gobbled at every sound the crows made. I longed to grab my vest and gun and head in his direction; however, with the season over, I settled for savoring each gobble as I sipped my coffee.
My perfect Tuesday ended under the stars and with a full moon over my shoulder listening to the Dave Matthews Band at the Brandon Amphitheater. It’s hard to beat live music in the outdoors! (Photo by Brad Dye)
My relationship with coffee is tied to turkeys, or more specifically, turkey hunting. I drank it out of necessity while in college when I needed to pull an all-nighter in order to study for a test or write a paper about which I had procrastinated until the last minute. After college, I drank it occasionally but never regularly until I started turkey hunting.
The connection makes perfect sense to me, as turkey hunting goes hand in hand with rising in the wee hours of morning and operating day after day in a state of sleep deprivation. Since caffeine helps with both, coffee quickly became my morning beverage of choice.
As I’ve mentioned in past writings, coffee (and food) tastes better when enjoyed outdoors. Hearing the turkey gobble within earshot of my backdoor this week took me back to early March in the swamps of South Florida. Each morning, I rose first, crawled out of the tent and clicked the switch on my well-traveled Mr. Coffee. The smell of coffee wafting through the air in the campsite was heavenly.
As I have grown older, what I put in my body and where it comes from has become increasingly important to me. Hunting and fishing enables me to source my own meat, and I place great value on that. I have come to do the same with my coffee.
Small-batch coffee is better in every way. For starters, it allows conscientious sourcing. “Ethically sourced” means it’s better for the grower, the environment and the consumer. It also ensures a consistent roast and coffee beans that are consumed at the peak of their freshness. The end result is better coffee.
Photo provided by Nathaniel Maddux
Call me a coffee snob, but small-batch coffee is just better: better for the grower, the environment and the consumer. For just a few dollars more, you can replace your mass-produced coffee with an “ethically sourced” small batch coffee. My favorite thus far is the Grand Slam Blend from Niangua Coffee Company’s Field Collection. I must admit I’m a sucker for anything in Mossy Oak Green Leaf or Bottomland; however, what’s in that camo bag is even better. It’s the smoothest coffee I’ve ever had!
I recently discovered Niangua Coffee and have fallen in coffee love with their “Grand Slam” blend. The coffee is a 50/50 blend of single-origin beans from Huehuetenango, Guatemala, and the Chiapas region of Mexico, and it is the smoothest coffee that I’ve ever drunk. My self-proclaimed “coffee snob” and former barista daughter, Tate, confirmed this on a recent visit to the farm: It’s good coffee!
Niangua Coffee is the brainchild of award-winning videographer and outdoors content creator Nathaniel Maddux and his wife, Shelby. They fell in love with good coffee while living in Seattle, and after moving back to Missouri to raise a family, they decided to create a coffee brand with a focus on the outdoors community. According to Maddux, “We wanted a brand that was more focused on blue-collar folks that had more of a family values feel to it.”
For their Field Collection coffee blends, Niangua partnered with Mossy Oak, and each bag of coffee is covered in the West Point company’s camo (Mossy Oak Bottomland for the Vintage Blend and Mossy Oak Greenleaf for the Grand Slam Blend). Niangua also donates one dollar from each Field Collection bag sold to the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) as a way to give back to the bird that has given many of us so much.
“Truth builds trust” is the company motto for Maddux’s video production and creative agency, Slate and Glass, and that motto is woven into everything that he does, including Niangua Coffee. You can check out this great-tasting coffee at nianguacoffee.com as well as on Facebook and Instagram. If you are a coffee drinker, order a bag today. Your tastebuds will thank you.
Until next time, here’s to great cup of coffee enjoyed while watching the sun peek over the horizon, and here’s to seeing you out there in our great outdoors.
Email outdoors columnist Brad Dye at braddye@comcast.net.
Arrangements are currently incomplete at Berry & Gardner Funeral Home for Mr. Henry Burrage, 80, of Meridian, who passed away on Thursday, May 26, 2022, at Anderson Regional Medical Center, Meridian.
A Visitation for Walter B. Staniscavage Jr. will be Friday, May 27, 2022, from 5-7 p.m., at Webb & Stephens Downtown. A Graveside Committal will take place Tuesday, May 31, 2022, 11 a.m. at Mississippi Veterans Cemetery, Newton.
Arrangements are currently incomplete at Berry & Gardner Funeral Home for Mr. Richard Overstreet Jr., 59, of Toomsuba, who passed away on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, at his residence.
Funeral services for Mr. Jaqualyn Darby are Saturday, May 28, 2022, at 11 a.m., at Berry & Gardner OP Chapel, Meridian. Burial: Sunset Cemetery, Meridian. Viewing: one-hour prior to service at Berry & Gardner OP Chapel, Meridian.
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