I hope your day is going great. At this hour, how many coffees have you had already? Here in Cumaná-Venezuela, it's just past noon, and I'm having my second coffee as I'm writing this post for #tcsp 85 ☕️

Life is movement, which means time passing by and change...

...But sometimes we just want to stop the train and sweetly fool ourselves into believing that we can actually stop that train and contemplate the scenery in a still frame, pretend that the clouds aren't rolling over our heads, that the same coffee is actually the same coffee.

However, that train never stops, my dear coffee friends, and that coffee is never the same; even if you never put sugar in it, sometimes, like the song and like love, it's the sweetest thing, just as it can be bitter. But I always call it the same. Most of the time, it's just black coffee for me, no sugar, whether I'm at home or in a café...

Now, there's a variety of black coffees--I mean, without milk or cream of any kind--; an Americano is fine if it is a casual coffee, one of those that you drink without even looking at it because you are doing other things and that coffee is like breathing or scratching the tip of your nose; it just is. But for a particularly bright or somber moment, an espresso has the necessary personality to pass through without being overlooked. You see it. You smell it. You look at its crema, that creamy veil that shrouds the rich brown color of the hot liquid that steams discreetly.

A doppio is a kiss and a slap in the face in the best Italian mafia style of Hollywood movies, as fallacious and exciting as you can get. Everything espresso has to offer, but double and with some spiritual violence, haha.

At Dulce Tentación, you can choose any of these coffees, an Americano, an espresso, or a doppio for an excellent price. One dollar for either of the first two; two dollars for the last one. Not bad, even in this depressed economy.

I visited this café yesterday. It's on the first floor at Hipergalerías Shopping Center. I met one of my sisters (Hive account@adncabrera) there to discuss the details of a modest literary event to be held at the end of the month at Ramos Sucre House, which she's been running for a few years now, but with which we've been intimately related since our childhood.

I ordered an espresso. So did my sister.

It came with a sugar packet and a couple of sweet cookies.

Should I be more adventurous when it comes to coffee?

Well, I'm not afraid to take risks, but in my small town, there's not much to choose from. However, I must confess that just as I usually try the lasagna first at any Italian restaurant I might visit, and then see what else I'm craving the next time I go there, in a coffee shop, I usually try their espresso first; that's the coffee's presentationcard if you ask me.

We enjoyed their espresso a lot. I regretted not ordering a couple of doppios and suggested we had another couple of espressos, but the caffeine had kicked in... So we ordered a couple of maltas (our popular carbonated malt beverage in Venezuela). It looks like coffee, but it's malta 😋

There are always days when I'm in the mood for a latte, especially if it's lactose free. I didn't see any of the latter here, although they do have some gluten-free desserts (chocolate marquise and mini chocolate and banana donuts) 👇

I love black coffee and black coffee loves me ❤️

Let's just say that I'm more given to the traditional, and black coffee binds precious memories of the past with those of the present.

All text and images are my own. I have taken the pictures with my Redmi 9T cell phone. And if any GIFs here, I've used GIPHY for all them.

Thank you so much for your visit :)

Banner by Hive account@andresromero 🖤