tldr: It’s a given; I love coffee but I’ve realised I also really love connecting with people over coffee. I love that coffee gives us a chance to speak with those you know and those you may not. I’ve learnt many great lessons from people I didn’t know (mainly baristas). The people in coffee are pretty fabulous folks and it’s one of the most wonderful things about this world.
One of my favourite things about coffee, are the people you connect with along the way.
Of course a solitary moment drinking your cup of coffee is peaceful – a chance of stillness and quiet that can feel rare in what can be a busy and attention seeking world. As a people person, I am probably biased in saying that the moments where I connect with others is equally (if not more) lovely in the coffee world. In those moments you share a love, a passion and appreciation for this drink together.
It could be that you’re connecting with people you know over coffee; friends, family, colleagues or partners. You decide that you’ll venture out to a coffee spot where they can serve us a drink of our choice and if we choose to sit in this place, our protected time together lasts a little longer. We nurse and sip our drinks slowly, conversation flowing naturally and time moving in its own leisurely pace. Sometimes we laugh so hard that we squeeze tears of joy, maybe we whisper sombre realities that have been plaguing our minds. We might even sit in total silence as we co-work to the sound of crushing grinders in constant use as our work playlist. Coffee and coffee shops bring us together and can keep us connected in this deeply intimate way.
Some of my favourite moments are inviting those close people into my home to enjoy my own at-home ‘cafe’. We spend an even more intimate time in my four walls, I curate the perfect playlist as we chat and I work away to brew us our drinks in my coffee corner. Drinks that I make with care so we can enjoy them together. We’ll sit on my sofa; face-to-face and talk about it all – life, love and loathes, trying to unpack all that weighs us down and celebrate everything that lifts us up.
Coffee connection happens with strangers too.
This is probably my favourite of all moments. Our shared connection usually being our love for speciality coffee. Maybe I strike up a conversation with a particularly friendly barista about the coffee they serve and sell in store. I’ve learnt and reflected on many things after a good conversation in a coffee shop. Being brave to try a cold brew only occurred after a friendly barista in Japan offered me a cup of cold brew for my birthday (full story in From Acid Reflux to Cold Brew: A New Brewing Chapter), freezing my coffee in centrifuge tubes was inspired by a simple show and tell session with a local barista (that full story can be found in Why I Started Freezing My Coffee) and slowing down on the bean exploration to hone in on one bag started after a friendly chat with a barista on a quiet Sunday in London (it’s how I came up with Sticking to “The Bag You Know” and the idea of a Coffee Persona) – chats with strangers have opened up my eyes, forced me to think differently, all of which push me outside of my comfort zone and grow.
Or course, I love coffee. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t love it. I love logging everything I drink, writing about the journey, expanding my palate and looking for ways to do more in this space. But it turns out, I also really love connecting with people over coffee. That’s been an unexpected find during all of this, but one I appreciate greatly.
I’m curious, other than drinking and making coffee – what else do you love about this coffee world of hours? Let me know and I look forward to our next connection over coffee,
Leave a comment