Ahhhhhhhhhh… coffee!!!

Isn’t it wonderful to wake up in the morning to a fresh, warm and delicious cup of coffee? The only coffee I like is the kind I make at home. Sorry coffee stores! I haven’t found one with better coffee than my own. I guess this leaves me out of this new coffee culture in the US, where you spend half your day at a coffee shop: you meet there with your friends or colleagues, do research on your laptop, read your favorite book, meet for a book club, play on your phone or talk to somebody on your phone, and, in the middle of all that, drink coffee.

Others drink it on the go and buy all the mugs, shirts and little memorabilia their favorite coffee shop has on sale. Some people even map the coffee shops of their favorite franchise when they travel to other countries to make sure they will have their coffee supply for the day or their much loved flavor handy. There are also coffee fans that will pay whatever for a fabulous cup of coffee, like in the case of the exotic and super expensive kopi luwak coffee which can be priced around $100 a cup. (I am not particularly interested in this coffee not only for its price but because of its process, yikes!)

This coffee culture that started to spread through the United States during the 1970’s was inspired by the European coffeehouses that since the 18th century or earlier acted as social hubs where artists and intellectuals met for hours and developed new theories and ideas. Some examples are:

Café Procope in Paris, which opened its doors in 1686 and was visited by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Sand among others.

Café de Flore also in Paris, was founded in 1890. Some of its customers were Pablo Picasso, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Ernest Hemingway.

Goethe, Liszt and Wagner are only some of the names of a long list of personalities hosted at Caffé Greco established in 1760 in Italy.

Whether you like to brew your own coffee like me or you are part of the coffee culture, here are some titles related to this “nectar of the gods“ that might interest you:

• I love coffee! : over 100 easy and delicious coffee drinks
  
• Coffee and espresso : make your favorite drinks at home
  
• Cooking with chocolate and coffee
  
• Gourmet coffee, tea and chocolate drinks : creating your favorite recipes at home
  
• The joy of coffee : the essential guide to buying, brewing, and enjoying
  
• Confessions of a coffee bean : the complete guide to coffee cuisine