the espresso ceremony

What prompted me to have a brief respite from the world of decaf, and try a real shot of coffee? Was it that Velluto Nero has won awards for their coffee? Was it that a commenter said I should look at the caffeinated coffee, not the decaf, when reviewing a place? Was it the lack of sleep, or the coldness of the morning?

Perhaps it was all of these in part.

But more than that was looking across the table at another person’s table setting, and seeing that the espresso came out on its own little platter, with a glass of water. This was a place that truly takes their espresso seriously: enough to afford it a sense of ceremony as it came out.

Though I didn’t really want a caffeinated coffee, I wanted to experience that ceremony for myself.

Is there some kind of similar ceremony that you’ve seen? It doesn’t have to be about espresso: any common-place event that has been taken up a notch by its presentation.

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2 Comments

  1. Hey Dave, this post reminds me of a similar ceremony we witnessed during our travels. We were in Salzburg, Austria, home of Mozart. After a morning of wandering around the city with the tour group, Trev and I went off the beaten track in search of a coffee. We picked a cafe and Trev went in to order and I went in search of a bathroom. Back at the table our coffee arrived on a tray, with a glass of water to cleanse the palette and a little chocolate to enjoy after the coffee. It was all lovely. Then the time came to leave so we could re-join our group, Trev went to the bathroom and we left the cafe. Probably about 4hrs later when we were in a different city/country we were talking about our money and how much we had left on us, and it was through this discussion that we both realised that neither of us had paid for the morning’s coffee!! As we weren’t together during the ordering or clearing up part, we just assumed the other person had taken care of it. We felt awful when we realised and promised that next time we are in Salzburg we will call in and pay our dues.

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