Greece appears to run on coffee. We pass loads of cafes on our way between home and work. Many of the proprietors and customers know me well now and the greeting rituals as we pass each morning slow our progress towards the office. Half the population of Piraeus makes and delivers coffee for the other half it seems. (And they don't get paid much for doing it either.)
We see scooters zooming about with delivery coffee in bags hanging off the handlebars. People walk by clutching their carry-out coffee (cold at this time of year) in their throwaway plastic cups, with plastic lids and plastic straws.... the throwaway plastic possibly cost more to produce and clean up than the coffee it holds but gets thrown without a thought.
When did humans get comfortable with throwing away their earnings like that? Especially if you don't get paid much.
Our work colleagues get coffees delivered to the office after they arrive at work. They don't even pick up a takeaway en route. There is an all singing, all dancing coffee machine (2 if you count the Greek coffee apparatus), that never gets used, languishing in the office kitchen.
F makes her own coffee but she takes her own container and buys special roast freshly ground coffee beans from one of these cafes. No supermarket brands packaged in plastic for her. The cafe man knows me and makes a fuss. She has her own coffee pot at work, and a similar one at home. 2 cups in the morning. Never more. Never later. Always hot. Always Arabica. She hasn't been able to fall in love with Robusta or any blend that contains it.
The pot on the desk was right beside my bunk so I decided to investigate why coffee is so popular with humans; a long carefully considered inhalation of the vapours. It definitely has an identifiable smell.
It didn't grab me like, say, a sniff of my weed or some valerian would do. I don't feel that the sniff has developed into any kind of addiction and I'm inclined to wonder what humans see in the stuff that their very lives seem to depend on getting it, but then the same could be said of wine and cigars I suppose. Humans are just strange.
Staring at the dregs in F's coffee bowl today I realized that the cosmos was sending her a sign. I pointed out that she needs to give this stuff up ....
Footnote: in NZ and UK people buy cake with their coffee. Here the cafes seem prefer to offer a selection of savory pies.
Ah, humans and their coffee. I have noticed that Gail consumes just one cup of (strong) coffee a day, in the mid morning. I could go into details about the rituals she enacts in order to ensure that the taste, strength and temperature is correct, but that would make for a very long comment. Suffice to say that in her last job, Gail and her boss bonded over their shared habit of heating the mug first...
ReplyDeleteToodle-oo!
Nobby.
Does it involve making the water exactly 80 degrees C? Apparently that is the perfect temperature to brew coffee without driving off the 'aromatics'. F read somewhere about all the ways of making coffee and apparently cold-filtered is the best but she doesn't like cold coffee.
DeleteCoffee, how I do love thee. Let me count the ways...
ReplyDeleteYou means that you don't just drink it JayCee? I have read about coffee face packs but that seems to be just silly (it would stick in my fur). xxx mr T
DeleteI don’t mind it cold when tarted up into a frappé but won’t accept a tepid barista made one. Much to their annoyance I like hot coffee - hot. Yes I’m old
ReplyDeleteThe picture of the dregs made me laugh. Here in the UK the supermarket Lidl has started to carry a really quite large range of greek products , including, I noticed yesterday, greek coffee... what's that I thought? Is it especially strong or different? Anyhow, we bought some goat's cheese and pastry swirls... Finally, I have a few less frantic weeks so maybe I'll have time to relax and enjoy some new tastes - here's hoping.
ReplyDeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteTotally allergic to the stuff and even the smell can cause me to feel quite nauseous, so on this, F and I will have to differ. As for the disposable stuff - that is some kind of other addiction, it seems... hugs and whiskeries, YAM-aunty xxx
Until IBS my first cup was as soon as I stepped out of bed, I am addicted to coffee and always had 3 per morning between wake up and 9, I don't drink it after 10 am ever because It makes me not sleep. 100 percent Arabic and I make mine at home. I don't like coffee purchased in cafes or coffee shops plus the cost of that coffee just kills me. my coffee cost was 11 cents a cup back beofre i retired, now is 3 times that but the cost of a cup of coffee at Starbucks is 6 dollars and way up... we once had a visitor who drank a whole pot of coffee and asked if we minded if he made another pot. I made it for him and in 4 hours he finished off 2 pots of coffee, that is 20 cups.. then he said he had insomina. really?
ReplyDeleteDa Phenny and Da Nelly are FINE! They have no Internet.
ReplyDeleteI do love good coffee. I drink it rarely, but it has to be good. Vietnamese robust is great, and I don't mess it up with sugar. Just a slosh of hot milk.
ReplyDeleteThe only Greek item I've had in recent memory was great olive oil. Snarling flavor, loved it, very opinionated oil.
Oh I love my coffee. And most mornings after swimming we head off to the cafe for a coffee. But we have it sitting in so we get real cups
ReplyDeleteOther than that we don’t buy coffee on the go. I’d rather come home and make my own
Your package arrived today
Thank you so very very much.
As soon as she fits into it I’ll take a pic and post it
I thought those coffee dregs looked slightly satanic, but I doubt if you will ever convince F to give up. I don't drink coffee but my son does - he needs two in the morning before he can function, always made to the same ritual. What is it with all these coffee drinkers? :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know about Greece but I need a good strong coffee first thing in the morning but I put a tsp instant coffee in, a tsp of drinking chocolate, a tsp sugar and a sachet of mocha in mine so it gives it an extra pep
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