16 November 2017

Sniff coffee for your senses

The scent of coffee arouses all sorts of feelings. I adore the smell of it - it reaches deep into my soul and awakens my senses. Sometimes I wonder if I even need to drink it - maybe I should just try sniffing the freshly ground stuff - the way some people sniff glue, nail polish or other nasty items that can do serious damaged to your brain - sniff coffee instead.

At one stage Finns used to dominate in terms of coffee consumption. Prior to hitting 20, I often reached for a glass of milk before I reached for coffee. It took a long time for me to develop a liking for coffee - I certainly don't need it. I'm one of those people who wake up 110% - that jolt of coffee just gives me a nice buzz (as long as I don't abuse it as then I just get the jitters).

Finns, with a country less than 6 million people, still sits on top of the coffee ground mound as the country with the highest consumption - almost 10kg of coffee consumed per person.  Italy and Canada are at about the same with 3.4kg of coffee consumed.Yet the coffee culture in those three countries is so amazingly different.

http://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-what-the-world-drinks

I think I acquired my taste for coffee when I was working and living in Antwerpen, Belgium - it was those darn cute biscuits and chocolate that they gave you. And I must not forget the steamed milk.  Nothing as tacky (or polluting) as a take away cup in the early 90s. I am sure that by now they have adopted our terrible throwaway habits. They may have adopted our wasteful ways. From my last visit to Helsinki, I see that they also are adopting that annoy9inghabit of having a need to carry a cup of coffee or a bottle of water with them.

When I moved to Vancouver in the early 90s, Starbucks was the big news - there was even two Starbucks kitty cornered to each other.  I was a big fan of Starbucks until I started to notice their desire for world dominance - that is when I started to back away. There is one minor incident that I recall: I was in San Francisco in the Castro section of town visiting my Dutch-Canadian friend Johannes. A local independent coffee shop had put up a notice stating that their landlord was kicking them out after being their for a decade or so. Why - well it seems that a up and coming corporate group provided a nice signing on bonus if they would lease the space to them versus the local coffee shop. That was when I started seeking out the alternative to Starbucks.

From a money viewpoint coffee was an expensive habit! I started to back away when I realized how much my one latte per day was costing me - enough for a yearly vacation! 

Even Queen Street West in Toronto seemed to lose their charming coffee spots but it seems to be returning back to the 'hood as I have seen hopeful signs in 2017.  Vancouver has an excellent coffee scene. And I've got a lot pleasure from seeing a long lost cousin open up a coffee roasting house and shop in Portland. 

#coffee #helsinki #starbucks


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