I love coffee, from South Indian filter
coffee to American espresso. They say, coffee is the second-biggest traded
commodity after oil, but getting a satisfying cup of coffee is no less an act
than finding inspiration to write a poem. In search of the best coffee , or
coffee that suits my palette best, I'd tried bitterest of coffee powders, only
to realize that the dark roast, or the soft roast was not for me, I like
something in between - the medium roast, although not completely satisfied,
that was what I settled for, until today afternoon.At a vegetarian Bistro at St.Pete, after a sumptuous lunch, the waiter placed tiny white cups with a picture of cute floppy puppy on the table. And minutes later, he came down with a large steel vessel filled with piping hot coffee, the aroma of the vapors filled the entire room in a flash, it was as if I were dreaming in coffee, I was insanely intoxicated.
One sip, I had finally found the perfect blend, strong but not bitter, sweet but not syrupy, flavorful but not overpowering; a coffee that your soul will yearn forever - the Turkish coffee. If you love coffee, you will die for a cup of well-made Turkish coffee. I felt so intoxicated that I didn't drink or eat anything after that cup of coffee, just so that I could retain the taste and the flavor as long as possible. Four hours since that cup of coffee, I still feel the remnants of the flavor in the corners my tongue, and I'm ready to even skip my dinner if I can have it for longer.
I didn’t ask the host how the coffee was made, but had I inquired, the chirpy host that he was, he would have said: 'We are not Starbucks, we don't sell coffee in a Styrofoam box; we make coffee for the soul and serve it in puppy printed ceramic cups.' He did dispense the secret of tiny bits of cardamom in the Turkish coffee, which was unrecognizable even after his grand revelation.
The recipe is out there on the internet, making such highly specialized coffee requires special equipment and a much harder commodity – the experience to blend it the right way. All I could do is to drive down 25 kilometers once in a while to St.Pete to have that wondrous coffee. Would you care to join me?
