An appointment with coffee
A habit is something we are used to do without thinking too much. I am a coffee lover, I like it and I drink a lot of it without even thinking about it, in fact, it is a habit. However, sometimes during the day, my habit for coffee becomes a ritual as in the case of my first morning coffee.
I have got a vital rhythm which suits the night better; in the evening my mind and my body are definitely more active, a characteristic that I haven’t got when my alarm goes on in the morning and I feel tired, strenghtless and basically still half sleepy. In fact, I usually find myself walking around my house as if I was looking for something and without knowing exactly what to do.
How can I wake up and hit the road? Immediately, I realize that I need caffeine and here my ritual starts: the preparation of “black gold”… and I am not talking about petroleum!
I generally approach my day quite softly, starting my coffee ritual which represents a kind of encouragement to face my long day up. In Italy, but mostly in the South of the country, coffee is prepared in the so called “moka” (a coffee pot also called “the little machine”) with a symmetrical eight-faceted metallic body which is available in different sizes so as to make coffee for one such as twelve people. I have got many sizes of “moka” but, in the morning, I always use the one supposed to be for four people in order to guarantee myself a little supply of caffeine before leaving home.
I step slowly towards the kitchen, I open the cupboard and only the sight of my “moka” is reassuring for me. I fill the bottom half of my moka with fresh water but only till the external valve, as for Italian tradition, then I fill the pot’s filter basket with the ground coffee, at this point I already start to enjoy the coffee smell that already wakes me up a little bit. I carefully screw on the moka pot’s spouted top, but not too much, then I place it on the smallest stove set to medium heat.
At this point of my morning ritual, there is a first magic moment. I know there will follow other magic moments, but this is absolutely the first one: the cracking of the stove and the noise of the little flame that lights up. I smile and for a moment I enjoy the sight of it.
I take the sugar and I put a couple of tea-spoons in my moka so as to make a creamier coffee without changing its strong and intense taste.
While waiting, I usually turn the telly on, on the news channel, or, sometimes, I listen to some music, something not very aggressive, maybe jazz or something like that.
If I have something to do, I don’t do it, I sit on the sofa and I wait, I relax myself. Slowly, coffee starts coming out, I can hear the gurgling of it and a delicious smell fills my house. It is the second magic moment.
I slowly approach my “moka”, I lift the lid and I find myself smiling again while watching the spout giving, as a present to me, a creamy brownie liquid. I wait till my moka is full, I switch off the cooker and I put the sugar straight in the coffee. My nose is overwhelmed: scent of coffee….wow!
My ritual is at the end and the magic is at the top: I pour coffee in my little crumpled coffee cups (when I saw them, I couldn’ t resist, I had to have them) and while going back to my sofa, first I enjoy the smell and then I taste my coffee, the first coffee of a very long day. It is definitely good! Now my day can start.
Summing up, the habit of preparing coffee is a ritual I particularly love, something I could never do without. It wakes me up, it catches my attention, it reassures me and it gives me little sensorial pleasures useful to get rid of negative thoughts and to get me ready to face up my day.
If anybody asked me any question in the morning, I would answer only in this way: sorry, we can talk about it later, I have an appointment with my coffee.