Coffee break? Not only...it's my coffee time!!!

Is there a way to have just a little bit of more time to enjoy my coffee? How could we dedicate even just one extra minute to our hot and smoky espresso? Personally, I really need it! I spend too quickly the time I dedicate to something, that for me, it’s a real moment of pleasure. My coffee time.

How can we, lovers of fine blends, transform a quick and limited pause from work into something that lasts longer and makes us feel good? Probably we need a mental process. We must choose to do it!!!

With coffee break we mean a pause during our working hours, usually not very long, spent drinking a cup of coffee. Generally, we have this break in the morning or in the afternoon. Is it a mistake? Maybe. Let’s try to “stretch” the coffee break concept and to transform it into something more “dilated” which will make us feel good for longer than one minute. We should consider a coffee time.

Sometimes a pause is just an excuse to break away from a hard-working day. I also try to take a pause every time I can (sometimes also when I shouldn’t) and one of these last days I decided to suspend any activity, to dedicate all my attention to coffee. So, the concept of coffee break came up on my mind. I decided it was not enough for me.

I try to explain myself better. Why should we spend just a little part of our day in a bar as if it was something to do in a hurry and in a very short time while most of our time is spent, for many reasons, doing something else? Ok…usually it is time spent for work and we don’ t always have time. But what would happen if we changed our point of view?

If all those people that like me love the aromas, the smoke that comes out from the cup, the tastes and the moments of pleasure that coffee can give us, payed more attention to the working processes, to understand where coffee comes from, and to all interesting facts about coffee beans and plantations, would there be more pleasant prospective not only linked to the so called coffee break?

While I was trying to relax myself for a moment before keeping on doing my own things, I thought to myself that it is the word break that definitely doesn’t suit me, my world and everybody thinks to be a real coffee lover.
The main matter is TIME. We should be able to amplify, though for just a little bit, our moment for coffee.

The last time I went to my usual bar I was slightly absent minded and without a precise guide but I kept on thinking and thinking to myself: I am not going to spend two minutes of my life unless they have a positive effect on me. I need more time to enjoy my coffee. I decided to postpone my break and I went back to work. Time will have to slide more slowly.

Ops…did I introduce myself? I deal with sport activities, precisely with tennis; often between a lesson and the other there is no break at all. Anyway, this new thought was invading my mind: I wanted to postpone my break to a moment which would have allowed me to really enjoy my coffee. In fact, I have always considered myself a coffee addicted, and I want to satisfy my desire of…of…coffee of course.

Mmm…I am not sure I want just a coffee. It would be too simple. I was looking for a relaxing moment, not only for a pause from my working routine. I decided to take some time to dedicate exclusively to a good espresso…so as soon I had a longer break among my lessons I escaped from work: It is coffee time!
Why “time”? I consider time a little space only for myself, only with coffee to take me company. So, I go back to my bar, this time more relaxed. I go in, I just give a quick glance at the people crowding it who are drinking their fast and furious espresso…I laugh and I notice a free table. It is mine!

My coffee time won’t last two minutes, I will make myself a present and I will spend fifteen minutes for my coffee; I mentally decide not to be in a hurry, to relax myself and to smile. I smile also when I see the waitress coming towards me and I order only and exclusively an espresso.

Italy is the home of espresso. Where I am from, it is usually served accompanied by a glass of water to rinse the mouth before tasting it (some people drink it after, cancelling the taste of this fine beverage).

The cup is candid, I just drink half of the water. I put inside just little bit of brown sugar so as not to contaminate the taste of my espresso.
In my idea of coffee time, the sight of sugar which slowly disappear in its compact cream, the tinkling of the tea spoon  in the small cup, the slow flow of time, to which I have decided to give more value, by expanding it above all mentally, represent pure wellness.

Finally I take the cup and I let myself to be wrapped by the coffee smoke and aroma, I slowly taste it and I let my espresso in my mouth for a few seconds. With its taste in my mouth, I have a cigarette. Who cares…it is my coffee time.