The Person Inside the Cup

The Person Inside the Cup

Specialty coffee is everywhere now. Menus tell you where the beans come from and when they were roasted. People talk about aroma and acidity. A cup can cost three times a street coffee, and it is no longer only to stay awake. For some pleasure, for others a way to show off.

I still remember that cold morning. I stopped at a small countryside shop and ordered a cup to warm up.

The owner roasted the beans right there. The smell came out strong, a little burnt. He talked while he worked, about picking, roasting, brewing. I did not understand everything, but I was pulled in.

When I drank it, I understood something. This cup was not just a drink. He had put years of his work into it. I was drinking one person's knowledge and experience, not just coffee.

Since then I noticed the word "specialty", and I stopped liking coffee from the big chains.

Not because it is bad. But it has no person in it. A recipe copied to hundreds of stores makes every cup taste the same. You never hear why they chose this bean. No story. Only a product.

Small shops are different. Often pricier, but the person behind the counter puts heart into each cup: their taste, their years in the trade. I come back for that story, not for the coffee.

I believe most artisans do not care about marketing. They do it out of passion, not to be called an artisan. They just want today's cup better than yesterday's.

If you have ever stopped at a small shop like that and felt your heart soften, maybe we think the same. What I look for is just the feeling that a person is inside it.