She Drinks Straight Espresso Too…

It was a joyful moment when I realized that she drinks straight espresso too. After running an espresso bar for three and a half years – six days a week – I have no single recollection of a female patron walking into our store and ordering a straight espresso.

For that matter there were very few male patrons who did either. We did have a few regular “doppio (double espresso) drinkers” – 4 actually.

Five if you include me.

Straight espresso drinkers only constitute 5% of U.S. coffee drinkers

Here’s a blog that verifies my assumptions: Ristretto We Are the 5%

With the exception of some of the baristas, I had not met a lady who preferred straight espresso as her drink of choice. It’s pretty rare; or at least it has been in my experience. In 2017, I did and I married her.

Maybe that’s not the case in different parts of the country. Things may have changed since we sold the shop. But I think not. There are exceptions. But, you have no idea what a joy it is to share a really good espresso with your life mate – your wife – who loves that espresso – and gets it – the very same way you do.

Understanding the subtleties of fine coffee is such a personal experience.

On many levels it is sensual. There is aroma and there is taste. Then there is the sound – the right sounds that constitute the proper preparation of really good coffee. There is a visual experience – the colors, tones, and presentation. There is temperature.

It is similar in nature to a tactile experience – and much more so – but not in the fingertip sense  It is unspoken. You get it or you don’t – but you really can’t describe it via language.  It is a deeply sensory experience that takes place within the core of our being, almost cellular yet deeper. It is “soulular” (borrowing an expression my wife uses).

How does one describe the beauty of a sunset to another person that did not share that experience – or to someone who does not speak your language? How do you convey to another the dramatic sense of awe or the deep emotions experienced in the presence of beautiful music (the kind that touches your heart)?

Coffee is like that. It is soulular.

In our home, that shared, unspoken understanding permeates our space. The same way the aroma of that first morning cup of coffee re-connects with the olfactory system when one of us walks into the kitchen.

Ah, coffee, yum.

Few things are more intimate and comfortable than the sleepy quiet voice I hear saying:

“Is it coffee-oclock?”

Then I smile and think to myself,

“Ah, that’s right, she drinks straight espresso too.”