The heavenly beverage

Coffee. It's one of a few of my simple but ardent pleasures. And I truly love (good) coffee.

I love the aroma of the coffee as it brews or is pressed; I love the tingle of the coffee on my tongue; I love the flavor that envelopes my taste sensors; I love the warmth of the liquid as I swallow. I love coffee.

But I think the thing I love the most about coffee is sharing it with other coffee lovers. There is nothing like sitting down on the back patio with a friend, sharing cappuccino or espresso. And one of my favorite things to do when I drink my first cup of coffee in the morning is to sit down in a quiet spot, read the letter that my best Friend gave to me, and reflect on His love and care for me and my family.

Ernest Hemingay, A Moveable Feast

It was a a pleasant café, warm and clean and friendly, and I hung up my old waterproof on the coat rack to dry and put my worn and weathered felt hat on the rack above the bench and ordered a caffé au lait. The waiter brought it and I took out a notebook from the pocket of the coat and a pencil and started to write.

Some of my friends don't like espresso. They think it's too strong, too dark. They think espresso is too rich (how could anything be too "Rich"?) and too bitter, and they don't want to drink coffee out of little cups. But my friends who don't like espresso do like espresso drinks—caffé latte, caffé, mocha—when the intensity of the espresso has been soothed by hot steamed milk, sweetened with sugar and topped with chocolate or spice.

I love it all: a latte or cappuccino in the morning to wake me up and keep me awake until noon; a demitasse of espresso or a cup of double espresso after lunch (depending on the day's workload); an espresso or an espressso drink mid-afternoon as a break in my day; a stop in a café at the end of the afternoon to read or write or just sit and watch the other patrons; an espresso after dinner as the finishing touch to a good meal; a macchiato or a mocha with friends at the coffeehouse in the evening, perhaps after a movie.

As the saying goes—"It's all good."