Coffee….for me.
October 5, 2011
I’m going to Seattle for the first time around the time this article goes to print, and I shall make a pilgrimage. Not to a cathedral nor a shrine, but to the original Starbucks™ store in the Pike’s Place Market. It will probably be the high point of my visit. You see, I am a certifiable, committed, happily caffeinated coffee aficionado.
Starbucks™ began its climb toward fame in 1971, but my relationship with the java began even earlier, in my grandmother’s kitchen in Queens, that part of New York City where little Italian ladies brew some of the richest coffee this side of Italy. My sisters and I learned to sip coffee in colorful china cups, a concoction of café con leche much heavier on the sugar and milk than the coffee, but the taste still unmistakable. Hence, one of my favorite things, to this day, is a cup of coffee.
I like a big mug of coffee in the morning, early. Setting up my fancy brewing machine the night before, so that no time is wasted before the scent and sounds of freshly ground beans permeate the house is a nightly ritual.
The formula includes the dark roast beans, a tablespoon of sugar free vanilla or hazelnut syrup ( per pot), and cold water. Each cup, and I need at least two to participate fully in human company, will require a packet of sugar free sweetener and two squirts of Fat Free Whipped Topping ( canned) or a tablespoon of the tubbed variety. Years ago, my sisters and I discovered that whipped topping adds the “lightness” of milk, plus an added, sweet creaminess.
My grandmother Anna Peretti LaPorta would have found the use of anything other than cream or full bodied milk to be a sacrilege. I can still hear her saying, “ Where is the cow?” That was what she called the milk….the “cow”. Once, as a new bride, grandma visited my home. I wanted the coffee service to be perfect, so I baked a cake, spent half my weekly grocery budget on premium coffee, and found an actual china “cow” creamer to pour the milk from. She talked about it for years afterward and I was very pleased.
In addition to the china “cow”, I have collected a number of artifacts to support my coffee commitment: tins for the beans, mugs from workshops and travels, and at least three types of brewing machines. Details on these would require another article, but at least one of them makes individual frothy cups of different coffee beverages. Amazing!
What goes in these machines? Coffee from places that I visit is part of the ritual. Costa Rica provided some of the most robust flavor ever and a pound bag cost less than two American dollars in the “supermercado”. I brought home as much as my luggage and US Customs would allow. It was gone in a month. Lots of folks rave about the Kona blends of Hawaii. I brought some back, but they weren’t as amazing as I had hoped. The coffee in Italy was fabulous, but I may be prejudiced, since it is the homeland of my ancestors.
My favorite things. Coffee is certainly one of them, but it isn’t the brew alone that brings me pleasure. The company and memories attached to so many cups of hot java over the years contribute to my passion. Long afternoons with my best friends and sisters. Early mornings with my daughters. Meetings with clients and colleagues. Each of these scenarios include coffee and conversation, a special, significant connection.
Oddly, my husband of three decades doesn’t like coffee. At all. In the early years, he would balk at dollars spent on the brew or grudgingly allot time on trips finding coffee for his bride. I consider it an authentic sign of his love for me and his ability to grow and change that he now hunts the coffee for me, especially when we travel. “Look,” he will say…”they have the kind you like.” It is so sweet. Or, maybe, he has learned that I am much sweeter when my coffee needs are met.
At any rate, when I thank God for the small things that make life a bit more pleasant and pliable, I thank Him for “Coffea Arabica” the scientific name for my favorite plant. Clearly, this was part of the work of Genesis Chapter One…”God saw all that He had made and it was very good.”
