Crema

Jonathan and I had a lovely chat this morning. We don't talk as much as we used to talk, I miss his voice, him, which causes me to appreciate these conversations more.

Today he was talking about the delicious cup of coffee he had made. Talk about bringing vicarious joy to me!

I have often lamented my dislike of coffee. The only good coffee, I assert, is muted in tiramisu. In other words, with lots of sugar and lots of cream.

What I do like a lot, however, is Jonathan's like (love?) of good coffee and his ongoing enthusiasm for the drink. I love how coffee houses became our way of exploring new cities, and old ones alike. Often the coffee houses would have tea, sometimes not. They would always be a destination, multiple destinations, that enabled us to find new areas, to walk to new destinations, to expand our knowledge of our temporary home.

Jonathan had recently been to a Starbucks downtown, and, hooboy, was awful he said. It was like milk and sugar with essence of espresso, that they had forgotten to add the coffee. Explained, he said, why Matthew often asks for quad shots with his order, just to have a coffee flavor. "Is that," Jonathan went on, "two double shots, or four double shots?"

"Something like a double double?" I asked,

Oh, no, to be sure. A double double in Canada is not, as one might expect, a double stacked cheeseburger. It is, instead, a coffee with two creams and two sugars. Now, tell me, how did I live in Canada for years and not know this?

Right, not a coffee drinker.

One of the reasons that I wish I were a coffee drinker, aside from the plentiful coffee houses, is the mouth feel I imagine coffee has. I might be imagining that the mouth feel of coffee is different, heavier, than tea. I've taken to adding cream to a cup of tea in the morning, the cream definitely changes the flavor and mouth feel, more like what I think coffee has.

My comment about coffee's mouth feel prompted Jonathan to share James Hoffman's video, Crema Explained video, which goes into details about the foamy stuff that is deemed A Good Thing™. Jonathan commented that crema is considered "good" in espresso circles, but James goes into the deets about how, well, some things are for show, and not necessarily done to make the coffee taste better.

Like many things, done for show.

A lovely chat.