The first bean coffee scoop that I made, my wife Melody claimed as her own. That was fine by me as it was well deserved - she scoops the coffee grounds and brews the coffee for us both every morning!
Melody had come up with the idea of making a coffee scoop. For that first scoop, I found a left over piece of black walnut wood and went to work. I traced out a bowl design and then sort of added on a straight handle. As I started to carve the bowl I realized that the current plastic coffee scoop we used every morning was short and deep. I wasn't going to carve a deep bowl as the design would need to be shallow and wide. As I carved I kept pouring coffee grounds from the plastic scoop to the wooden scoop. Eventually my carving knife started to 'bottom out' and at the same time I reached the two tablespoon amount. I then started shaping the handle and as it turned out, a rounded handle was much nicer than a straight one.
The bean coffee scoop design is meant to be delicate, light in the hand and somewhat flat so it reaches nicely into coffee ground bags or containers when scooping. The design I found out after doing some Google searches is not unique. I found a similar one online. But that's OK as it just reinforces the design was a good choice!
Each of the coffee scoops that are carved and shaped look unique and are not exactly the same. For the wood options I use black walnut and cherry. Black walnut wood has so much character and charm that I never really plan out the look of the scoop as the wood speaks for itself. Cherry is simpler but beautiful patterns can be found. For the shape I tend to sometimes make the handle a bit narrower or the bowl a bit lighter on the back. It usually amounts to not much of a difference but it's interesting to see the end result.
As Melody scoops coffee each morning, I hope she likes the look and feel of the wooden coffee scoop in her hand as she's using it. It feels like a gift that keeps on giving and we will be using it every morning for a long time to come.
