Making espresso at home is one of life's simple pleasures
I want to share just a simple thought with you today and it is this: if you are a fellow lover of the potent shot of coffee, the short black or ristretto or double shot, etc, have you ever stopped to ponder just how enchanting this simple beverage is?
It occurred to me on Thursday as I crafted another espresso during a busy work day that I am, for all intents and purposes, making the same drink three to four times a day and have done so since I discovered espresso in 1992. And yet, strangely, I never tire of it.
I think there are many factors involved that cast differences upon each and every cup, things like, slight variations in beans, different degrees of freshness, water quality, mood, and the condition of one’s palate at the start of every cup. By this latter point I mean that even having two identical shots, one after the other, will render a different experience for each because your palate is affected in different ways. For the first cup, depending on what you have or have not been eating prior to your shot, your palate will be in one state. But then, upon partaking of the second shot, your palate will be jaded from the intensity of the first and report back different flavours and nuances.
Could it be that the relationship between a faithful espresso drinker and his/her espresso is akin to that between two faithful lovers? Ostensibly, it is not the elements of “the other” that changes but rather the internal conditions within one self and the vagrancy of ever-changing external conditions that shape and flavour our experience of togetherness.
Ponder this during the afterglow of your next shot (and let me know your thoughts).
Yours in the spirit of espresso
Steve Davis
Founder / Espresso Evangelist
[email protected]
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