He will leave in a moment, after just one more cuplet of coffee. Europeans know how to make it right! This is the best in the world, better than the specialty brands he experimented with in the delicatessens on Fifth Avenue. Europeans understand that flavor is not about sensory stimulation, it is about evocation. It is art and memory. It is reunion with exalted moments, and such moments are never solitary ones. In short, life without coffee is not really life.
From Michael D. Obrien, Island of the World
The scene on the inside of Once Over:
Too many cups?
… is a new coffee bar in Austin. Definitely worth a visit. And I liked their sign:
Once Over
About 13 years ago I asked my friend Marcie to disciple me in drinking coffee. I had never in my life had a taste for it, but I found when I visited central Europe that in some homes I was offered a cup – or even given it without being asked. I also noticed that it had a strong social component, so I thought I would benefit from being able to at least tolerate it.
Marcie started off by picking up a mocha for me at Nabes in Las Cruces. We sat and drank together, and I was able to finish the whole cup. The sweetness and the chocolate helped me. A week later she brought me a second mocha. Not long after that I tried (and liked) a latte. Eventually I worked my way to cappuccino and even espresso. I went beyong tolerating the stuff to enjoying and even savoring it. (more…)
No, not the movie – I haven’t seen it yet. Here’s a series of shots of Nicholas teaching his sister Karen to make a cappuccino. (Sorry the final shot is so blurry – missed the beauty of the results.)
(more…)
Shortly after I moved to Austin in 1997 I discovered Anderson’s Coffee on Kirby Lane. They turned out to sell (according to my taste) the freshest coffee beans at the best prices in Austin. I miss them.
But recently they’ve done a good deed that I must tell you about: my 3-cup French press gets quite a bit of use, since I make my own cup every day, then often a cup for Petra so she can teach her Slovak lesson, then sometimes a cup for a guest. The mesh screen filter is therefore getting a bit worn around the edge, so that sometimes I get crunchy bits of coffee in my, er, coffee. That isn’t good, so I asked my daughter Karen to run by Anderson’s to pick up two or three spares for me.
When Karen went to the shop, she found that they only had two left, which they normally sold for $2 each. But when she told them the purpose of her purchase, they quickly decided to give them to her – gratis! That’s fine form for a business, and I hope you will reward them with a vist – or an online order if you don’t live near Austin.
According to a feature article I read in the Slovak Spectator, before World War II Bratislava had a thriving coffee culture, on par with Vienna and Budapest. Communism put an end to it, though, because it was not safe for people to talk freely in public about “unapproved” ideas – anyone might be listening. But there are some people who care about the coffee culture, and they are promoting its restoration.
Unfortunately, I missed out on Coffee Day (October 17). If I only knew Slovak, I might not have missed it – and I could keep up with local coffee news on sites like this one.