Moments with coffee

The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.

- George Eliot -

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I would have been quite young, under fifteen I'd say, when I had my first coffee and, whilst I remember my parents restricting my coffee intake as a child, I developed a taste for it.

At that time there were no caffeine-loaded energy drinks like Red Bull which only started in 1984 and even when they started to appear I wasn't one to drink them. I liked coffee, not just the caffeine, and still do. I've had an energy drink or two with the last Red Bull I had being in Austria at Red Bull Hangar 7 near Salzburg. The link will take you to the website and the text below is from the front page.

Hangar-7 at Salzburg Airport is a unique building which houses the historical Flying Bulls aircraft fleet and a collection of Formula 1 race cars. Hangar-7 also offers space for art exhibitions. And with its Restaurant Ikarus, two bars, an Outdoor Lounge and one café, it is not just an events location, but a meeting point for art lovers and bons vivants, too.

It was pretty amazing to be there but the Red Bull drink I had wasn't so amazing and in truth I don't enjoy it...Coffee on the other hand? Well, it's something that has come to mean a great deal to me and it's not just about the coffee...It's also about the moments that occur when I drink it: The company and conversations and sometimes the quiet moments spent with a cup of coffee close to hand. It just feels nice.

I can't count the number of coffee's I've consumed over the years or the conversations, there's just been so many, but I can recall certain moments in which a simple cup of coffee has deeply impacted upon me; not just the taste but the moment as a whole.

One such moment was the first time I visited Paris and the first coffee I drank there.

France is a long way from Australia and getting there is not only time-consuming but costly. Travelling for a short period doesn't make sense so extended stays are required, and that costs a lot of money also especially considering what AUD loses to the Euro in exchange. So, it wasn't until my later thirties when I had the ability to travel to France, a place I'd always wanted to go.

I recall the excitement of the build up months before the trip, planning it and researching the histories and information about the places I'd visit. It added to the overall experience extending the enjoyment I gained out the trip to come to some degree I suppose.

It's about seven hours from my city to Singapore, an eight hour layover then fourteen hours to Paris. I recall landing at Charles der Gaulle airport around 06:00 on a Sunday morning and after clearing customs made my way to my hotel situated in the 8th arrondissement within the Madeleine Opera district. It was lovely, but they weren't ready to check me in at 08:00 and suggested I leave my bags and grab a coffee up the street which I was happy to do.

It's that coffee I refer to above, my first in Paris, and it was simply amazing.

I ordered an espresso coffee and plain croissant using the French language I'd taken the time to learn and when it arrived it smelled amazing. I sat there at a little table facing outwards to the street and took a sip marvelling about the fact I was finally in Paris.

I'll never forget how it tasted, the coffee or the croissant - My first ever of both in Paris, the city of light. Thinking about it now just takes me back to the moment and makes me smile broadly; oh to be back there once again.

Around thirty minutes later I said, au revoir passez une bonne journée, to the café owner and took a walk...A long one.

I wandered all day looking at places I'd only read about or seen in documentaries and movies: The Louvre Palace, L'église de la Madeleine, Eiffel Tower, Place de la Concorde, Place de l'Opéra, Pont Alexandre III, Tuileries Garden, Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, Arc de Triomphe and so many more iconic places. Everything seemed so amazing...And it all started with that morning coffee.

I'll never forget that coffee-moment and the rest of that day that followed; it was the day I fell in love with Paris.

I stayed for a couple of weeks, saw and enjoyed so much of it and drank a lot of coffee. I've been back many times now, and have travelled to so many other amazing places around the world and there's always a constant; the coffee and the moments spent with it. Some of those far away places have become loved-destinations and others I'll never see again but in each I added moments to the tapestry of my life and coffee punctuated them.

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It doesn't matter to me if the coffee comes in a small cup and saucer at a quaint café in Paris or a cardboard cup in the Botanic Gardens of my own city as per the photo above - What really matters to me are the moments shared with a coffee because it's those moments that bring true value and make the most mundane cup of coffee seem a lot more special.

There are moments, and then moments with coffee.

How about you? Do you have special coffee moments like this, ones that you recall years later and look fondly on as truly memorable or significant? Let me know in the comments below.