Ritual No. 1: Morning Coffee + Jazz-Funk

The Day ritual is simple: coffee first, then the needle.

Here is the version we keep coming back to. The grinder goes before anything else, whole bean, ground right before the brew. While the water heats, the record gets chosen, because decision fatigue kills a morning and the ritual works best when you commit early. A pour-over of something bright, Ethiopian if you are choosing, and then a record that sounds like sunlight through blinds. Herbie's Head Hunters era. Roy Ayers on a Sunday. The coffee wakes you up; the record tells you what kind of day it is going to be.

Start with Side A only. If you flip it, the morning is going well.

Our house pour-over shelf has the coffees for it, and the vinyl shelves have the records. TasteMatch can pair them for you if you tell it what you are into, or just dig. That is half the ritual anyway.