Coffee

I have lots of thoughts running through my head tonight, posts for my blog. Perfectionism, failures, challenges with adoption, working, family ideals and coffee.

So, I will start with coffee. 

I don’t drink coffee. I have never wanted to start drinking coffee. Though I like the smell, I have never liked the taste. I am not really amused by the snobbery that seems to associate itself with coffee and its drinkers. I will admit I am a peanut butter snob. But of course peanut butter snobbery isn’t the same as coffee snobbery. Or refinement I should say. Both James and I were so much “not into coffee” that when my mom came to visit us for years she would bring along her own little coffee pot. Eventually we bought one to have for guests, or more likely she bought one for us to have and so then at least we started serving coffee to our guests, though we never drank any.  

I even laughed when my dear friend that came with us on our first trip to Zambia talked about getting “off” coffee to prepare for the trip and the effects that had. 

(Sorry I laughed at you)

But a few years ago James started drinking coffee, I’m not too sure why, maybe the stress of living in Africa drove him to pick it up (Kind of like I never drank anything until we moved to Africa...) Or maybe it was to have that afternoon pick me up since we were worn out all the time...But he started liking it and reading up on coffee and its history and would tell me interesting facts about it and welcomed me to join in this coffee “game.” 

Still not interested. 

So then I start working at a cafe. And not just a cafe but a coffee shop / cafe. 

Home to the Zambian National Barista Champion 2 years in a row. 

And I still wasn’t too interested. 

And still very clueless. 

For the last few months I have taken orders for coffee, bought coffee, served coffee, watched it being made and even watched a “cupping” for a new brand of coffee, as the coffee was dissected into all its glory. The smell, the taste, the sweetness, bitterness, earthy tones, cinnamon, vanilla, grassyness... when you see people sniffing and slurping and skimming things of the top of hot water with such precision it all just seems a bit hoaky to me. But I know its me and not the coffee. I was even asked to be a judge for a preliminary barista competition which I just thought was quite funny. I had to decline because I would have thought they all tasted bad. Still clueless. 

Last week a man came in and ordered some kind of coffee, a flat white cappachino to be exact, and I didn’t know what he was saying or understand. I had to call the barista over to have him explain it to her so that I knew what to charge him.  I came home and told James about it and after a bit of laughing he said, “ok. it’s time.”  Then he got online and downloaded some kindle books about coffee. I have started reading, and he’s right, how can I manage a coffee shop and not even know coffee?

So, I have made it a priority this week to learn how to make the coffees. I think the staff gets a kick out of watching me make them and taste them. To be honest the first espresso I made that I had to try was downright disgusting. Not because I had made it wrong, she tasted after me and said it was right, but because it tasted like bitter mud. It hit my taste buds as if I had just tried a shot of liquor (and how I know that...see above) 

With the espresso I was supposed to feel a certain thing in the front of my mouth and then the back and then my throat, as it went from bitter to sweet or something like that. I don’t even know. 

But I am starting to learn. I have watched and helped and gotten some training over the last few weeks but today I decided to jump in. I made espresso, cappuccino, macchiato,  cafe latte, americano, mocha latte. And lets just say I tried them all and drank a few of them to the bottom, the ones that had a lot of milk and then I added a lot of sugar to make it work. I was about to start my way into the iced coffees ( it was a bit slow today) but we actually had run out of the espresso beans. oops! 

It’s almost 11pm now and strangely I am not feeling the least bit tired. Very odd for someone who has been going to sleep at 9 for the last few months. Hmm. 

Actually the ladies were laughing at me because they said I was going to be wired for the day. True. 

So my goal is to keep learning. And keep tasting. I have surprised myself by enjoying it. And who knows if someday I will be writing as a coffee aficionado. (Probably should first learn if I spelled the word correctly)  After all coffee does go well with cake and the host of other goodies that I am promoting. And if I have many more days of coffee tasting and testing then I will have plenty of late nights to deal with these other thoughts and writings floating around in my head.