OK. I thought I should start with the basics, the fuel of modern living.
I like my morning coffee and a few cups during the day too. Sometimes these are sociable with friends, sometimes a private pick-me-up if the battle of the day has turned against one.
I am not really interested in whether Coffee is good or bad for oneself! I give as little heed to media obsession with health proclamations, which perennially counter argue with themselves. It’s good for you! It’s bad for you! No, actually it’s good for you….bad, good, bad, good. Butter, Coffee, Chocolate… many of the bountiful gifts of this world have been subjected to the inane rigour of self appointed media commentators & PR drones of business interests. No, I don’t give a hoot. Let them line up next to my hospital bed and say ‘Now, we told you so’, I’ll be still requesting strong black coffee from the hopefully obliging (and ‘heart stoppingly’ beautiful nurse). Oh, to die from coffee & love.
Give us this day our daily coffee. Back to the real and present, what amuses me these days is the extent of knowledge you need to know to order the coffee you actually want. I remember a time when you simply walked into either of the the two coffees shops in this city; Bewleys on Cook St or old O’Briens on MacCurtain St & Washington St. and you simply said ‘May I have a coffee please’. And with rather little fuss or noise your were served a fine mug of coffee with steamed milk. Satisfying and deliciously hot & strong. Many a mug of that brew was enjoyed by the floral wallpaper of Bewleys or with a giant buttered scone at O’Briens.
Somewhere in history line of coffee in Cork the landscape changed and now we have coffee shops aplenty throughout the streets of the city and with as many coffee options as there are shops. From the ultra particular Skinny Lattes, Frappuccinos to the fundamental Americano I have had to search through the lexicon of coffee names to find that old favourite mug of coffee. I have sat with learned men & women of the church of coffee, Baristas with thousands percolation hours. To find the words to unlock the treasures of the Gaggia Espresso Machine. So when you are behind me in the queue, and you hear me asking for a ‘Flat White double-shot please!’ Please don’t roll your eyes and think ‘Oh dear, another coffee pedant’. I am simply looking for what was once called ‘a coffee’.
I haven’t changed. The world has.
I guess it is true what the Coffee Buddha says, the only thing constant in this world is change. Let’s have a coffee to mull over that one…