I’ll admit. The relationship I have with coffee falls under a bit of love and hate. I’m not overly obsessed with it, and, it’s definitely not something that I couldn’t live without. Hell, I could even go on for months without having a taste of that bitter concoction without even noticing. But somehow, I always end up having a cup of it in my hand every now and then, most of the time without having a clue as to how it got there.
So, while I can’t count myself as a coffee lover (In all honesty, I prefer tea more — *hides in fear...), I can’t say that I hate it either. It’s an ever-going dilemma, with no clear decision in sight.
In truth, what got me hooked on this drink lies in the aesthetic, I think. I know I might sound like a snob saying this, but my coffee obsessions really started because of that in my teens, when posting a picture of a cup of coffee on your Instagram was counted as the epitome of cool, even if I never posted one myself. It was about keeping up with my pals, fitting in with the squad who liked to sit in fancy cafes and take a thousand pictures instead of drinking the damn thing. And in the end, as I grew older and a tad bit wiser, it was about the cafes themselves.
There’s just something about them that always managed to calm me down, even though it’s getting harder and harder to find decent quiet cafes these days. The muted, almost dimmed colour choices of these places, the soft indie music playing in the background, and the maddeningly sweet aroma of freshly made coffee and pastries in the air; are what pull me into drinking coffee more. And when winter rolls around, the amount of times I visit these places only increases.
Like just a few days ago, when I found myself lounging inside one with a couple of my friends. It’s an old coffee chain that has been open in our country for years now, but it was my first time there, and let me tell you, my time was not wasted.
They say that good company makes the food taste better. And it did, as I can absolutely say that It was the best coffee I’d had in a while. The bitter-sweet taste of fresh coffee beans hit my senses the second I took the first sip, and for a while, I, a tea person, felt like I was in heaven. It’s been a long time since any kind of food or beverage managed to bring out a smile to my face, so I can say I was completely satisfied. Even though we did take a few clicks of the food as soon as it hit the table, the rest of the time was spent in pleasant conversation, with me gazing appreciatively at the surroundings.
It’s like a place you know you’d come back to over and over again. Whether be it on a rainy day or a cold winter's evening, it’s a place you know you’d enjoy sitting in, alone or with company, gazing out the window at the ever-moving city and wondering about how life is passing by in a blur. Maybe I’ll bring a book with me next time I visit and find myself a nice corner to sit and read for hours, enjoying the chills of December, as songs like Dandelion Wine hums soothingly in the background.
So yeah, a good place, this Tabaq. My friend already gave a nice review about it, while I wrote about my inner crisis.