No, I'm not thinking of getting a tattoo, but if I were to subject myself to that kind of torture, I'd go for a small coffee cup strategically placed so my mother-in-law can't see it.
I came to coffee rather late in life, at the ripe old age of 22. Until then, I drank only tea. When I started going to all-night diners and realized coffee refills were free, I tried my first cup. Until then, I associated the aroma of coffee with the stench of cigarettes. I drank my first cup black no sugar, which is how I drink it today.
The first thing I do every morning is brew a double shot of Costa Rican coffee in my Saefco machine. Mmmm. That first sip of black jolts me into awareness while relaxing me at the same time. I may have another cup or two during the day, but nothing tastes like that first cup.
I just finished a novel called The Coffee Diaries by Caroline Kellems. The story takes place in Guatemala and involves a woman trying to decide whether to sell the family coffee farms. Corruption, murder and drugs contrast with delicious food, the ties of family and friendship, and of course, cup after cup of Guatemalan coffee. I traveled to Guatemala in 1999 from my home in Costa Rica. Kellem's book mentions much of what I saw and experienced. Better, it confirmed what I remember about Central American climate, culture and ways of doing things that make sense but seem so foreign to someone from the US. To build a fence in poorer countries, they cut down trees to use as posts and then run barbed wire between them. My Nicaraguan gardener was good at this.
As I write my book about living in Costa Rica, it's good to have my memory jogged. I've forgotten so much.
Would you get a coffee cup tattoo? Where?
1 comment:
My mom came rather late to coffee as well. She drank her 1st cup in the Marine Corp. She tried every way, finally settling on black, no sugar. She drinks it like that still. As far as the tattoo goes; I don't really know, maybe on my back so people can ask questions...
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