It's The Little (Cute) Things We Miss

Now that my Kuerig is costing me mucho dinero for each little cup, I decided to go old-school and use one of those little Kuerig make-your-own-coffee-blend filters. Which helped me to remember that my dear hubby had brought a gift of coffee back from his last visit to Japan. 

"Score," said I. 

I hadn't investigated the coffee gift (still in it's lovely wrapping since his visit last November), but I could bet the coffee would be pre-ground. The open coffee bag in my freezer was whole bean and because I'm lazy, I would rather rip open a beautiful gift box of coffee than take the five minutes to grind my own beans.

Moving on with this story...

What I discovered upon ripping open said box of coffee, was individually wrapped (because it is Japanese) packages of single cup drip coffee filters. I unzipped a pack, thinking I could probably dump the grounds into the Kuerig thingamajiggy.

I pulled out the filter. It was adorable. And functional. My heart ached in homesickness for Japan. 

I immediately flipped out the handles and fixed them on my coffee cup. Sort of. I was using an American cup and of course it was too big, so had to hold down one handle with my finger. I should have broken out my Japanese Mister Donut coffee cup, but I'm impatient as well as lazy. My Zojirushi water heater was ready to go (who can live without instant hot water once you've experienced it?) and I proceeded to make my tiny cup of coffee.

I had to take pictures. The filter looked like a little purse. Kawaii! And, by the way, the coffee. was. delicious.

If I were still in Japan, I would not have marveled at the technology of this little coffee filter. When you're living there, you become blase to all the practical cuteness. Then you move back to the States (or wherever, but I can only speak for the U.S.) and you become accustomed to the commodious size of everything. 

I wonder if Gulliver had these kinds of flashbacks?

Question to the expat returnees: What cute, little device do you miss? (I know you've got them!)