"Ci può portare un caffè, per favore?"

I've never liked coffee. Well... now I can swallow it, but it doesn't taste nicely all the time. I was born Italian and I started drinking coffee in 2008, in England. It sounds weird, at least to people who love italian coffee... but that was it! Italians are very fussy about coffee... I have to admit that there is a huge difference between a regular "caffè" in Italy, which consists in three sips (if you're a lady...) and a coffee everywhere else. Abroad, as far as I've seen, a cup of regular coffee is the same size of a cup of tea, sometimes bigger! ...when you go in a bar for a coffee or a tea, normally you sit down and you take your time to enjoy... In Italy we're pretty good in sitting at the table and enjoying goodies, including "caffè & ammazza-caffè", which literally means coffee-killer! What's that? Grappa, for example... but actually it can refer to any liquor that you have after the coffee, which I would say is the "official end" of the meal. ...and it can last forever sometimes! : -)

On the other hand, if you stop in a bar for a coffee, normally you don't sit down. Drinking a regular Italian expresso takes 10 seconds... you don't need to sit down! You don't take off your coat or put down your bag just for having 3 sips ...and then go! ... unless you have somebody to talk to while having  your coffee... but even then, if you meet "solo per un caffè", once the coffee is over and, as I already said, it cannot take that long... you normally have to go back to the things you were doing... it's just 10 min break from everything, a short moment of pleasure with a friend, short enough that you can have it basically at anytime. The whole "let's-meet-for-a-coffee-thing" always sounded a bit ironic to me, as I was not drinking coffee... but Diet-Coke! 

Here's a story that you can find just google-ing "storia-barattolo-palline-caffè", which translated would be "history, pot, small balls, coffee". It's funny that if not adding the word "caffè" I found a story which is identical ... about a pot and balls... but the subject was "la bière"! Maybe it's the Belgian version! :-)

Un professore, davanti alla sua classe di filosofia, senza dire parola, prende un barattolo di maionese grande e vuoto e procede a riempirlo con delle palle da golf. Dopo chiede agli studenti se il barattolo è pieno. Gli studenti sono d’accordo e dicono di si. Allora il professore prende una scatola piena di palline di vetro e la versa dentro il barattolo di maionese. Le palline di vetro riempiono gli spazi vuoti tra le palle da golf. Il professore chiede di nuovo agli studenti se il barattolo è pieno e loro rispondono di nuovo di si. Il professore prende una scatola di sabbia e la versa dentro il barattolo. Ovviamente la sabbia riempie tutti gli spazi vuoti e il professore chiede ancora se il barattolo è pieno. Anche questa volta gli studenti rispondono con un si unanime. Il professore velocemente aggiunge due tazze di caffé al contenuto del barattolo ed effettivamente riempie tutti gli spazi vuoti tra la sabbia. Allora gli studenti si mettono a ridere. Quando la risata finisce il professore dice: “Voglio che vi rendiate conto che questo barattolo rappresenta la vita…Le palle da golf sono le cose importanti come la famiglia, i figli, la salute, gli amici, l’amore, le cose che ci appassionano. Sono cose che, anche se perdessimo tutto e ci restassero solo quelle, le nostre vite sarebbero ancora piene. Le palline di vetro sono le altre cose che ci importano, come il lavoro, la casa, la macchina, ecc ...

La sabbia è tutto il resto: le piccole cose. Se prima di tutto mettessimo nel barattolo la sabbia, non ci sarebbe posto per le palline di vetro né per le palle da golf. La stessa cosa succede con la vita. Se utilizziamo tutto il nostro tempo ed energia nelle cose piccole, non avremo mai spazio per le cose realmente importanti. Fai attenzione alle cose che sono cruciali per la tua felicità: gioca con i tuoi figli, prenditi il tempo per andare dal medico, vai con il tuo partner a cena, pratica il tuo sport o hobby preferito. Ci sarà sempre tempo per pulire casa, per tagliare le erbacce, per riparare le piccole cose… Occupati prima delle palline da golf, delle cose che realmente ti importano. Stabilisci le tue priorità: il resto è solo sabbia”. Uno degli studenti alza la mano e chiede cosa rappresenti il caffè. Il professore sorride e dice: “Sono contento che tu mi faccia questa domanda. E’ solo per dimostrarvi che non importa quanto occupata possa sembrare la vostra vita, c’è sempre posto per un caffé con un amico!”.

I had my very first coffee in Italy, at home. I was 16. I was working in a gelateria ... very long days of work for a very little pay... only today I realize it! But at that time, it seemed huge amount of money... and they were only mine! I didn't know exactly what I was going to do with them, but... for sure, I wanted to start charging money on my mobile phone by myself... no way my mum could had told me anymore to do less phone calls with it! I thought it was worth it! One saturday evening, I decided to go dancing with a colleague of mine. We didn't want to be tired, so we shared a Red-Bull, my very first Red-Bull... before leaving from work, somewhere around midnight! Well, I couldn't sleep the whole night... we went dancing, I came back home and I rolled in the bed till morning... the first sleepless night with Red-Bull running in the veins... 

At 9 a.m. on Sunday I was supposed to open the bar... so when the sun rised, I prepared myself a coffee. I hated coffee in general. It was time apparently to start drinking coffee... At the high-school a lot of people, if not all, were drinking coffee regularly... sipping their cup of coffee and smoking cigarettes, in the morning before entering school... I couldn't even stand the smell of the tiramisù! ... I really couldn't stand having the taste of coffee on my tongue, it was giving me the shivers ... But that sunday I had to work till 11 p.m. minimum... no Red-Bull around, Diet-Coke was not yet part of my life ... Let's have a coffee, fuck it! Let's do it!... I tried first with a reasonable amount of sugar and some milk, but it was horribly disgusting and still so bitter... I added some more sugar and some more milk... well, I ended up drinking an expresso in a big cup full of milk and tons of Nesquik. It was disgusting and huge to swallow. I had to lay down in bed for an hour trying not to vomit... All these troubles for some caffeine ... but I managed to make it pass through, now it will stay there! ... I managed not to vomit that coffee, but I avoided coffee for such a looong time afterwards!
It's a shame I've never had a coffee with my dad .... I don't even remember how my father liked it... black or with milk? Sugar or not sugar? ... once my brother stop putting sugar in the coffee for a while... lo prendeva amaro, come la vita. ... 

My mum loves coffee! She really enjoys it... She likes it the most with whipped cream! ...or in the ice-cream... "la coppa del nonno" apparently is very yummy! However, being without caffeine, it never had any kind of appeal on me... but let's go back to the traditional expresso... My mum always says that if she doesn't have "il suo caffè dopo mangiato", she feels like she didn't conclude her meal. She feels so pleased when somebody serves her the coffee after eating. What she likes to receive is a coffee made with love, she always told me that... But my mum would also like the cup coordinated with the small plate and the right amount of sweetener. If you stir it... it's even better! I hated that smell... once I had a job that lasted only a month... and we were 3 barman making, twice per day, 400-500 coffees in an hour or so! And of course all different... ristetto, macchiato freddo in tazza calda, macchiato caldo in tazza fredda, eh, guardi signorina che il capuccino è ustionante, e uno ci vuole la sambuca con mosca, l'altro con tre mosche e un cubetto di ghiaccio... I think I'm a chocolate-like person!!! :P

However, once I had dinner in a Belgian restaurant in Canterbury where I had for the first time "Moules & Frites", which sounded to me a weird combination already then. My friend wanted a coffee and he said to the italian waiter: "Ci porta un caffè, per favore?". He came back with two of them. Misunderstanding?! Anyway, I took it like a sign and I tried for my second time to have a coffee... It passed through! I didn't feel like vomiting... no shivers! I couldn't believe it! I had a second one... straight after! It was okay. That was a great news! I remember calling my mum to tell her about this unexpected news... She was so proud of me... :D ... she really never understood "lei non potrebbe vivere senza caffè! Da quel lato lì non avevo proprio preso da lei! ah, no..." I was proud too... and since then, I happily enjoy stop in bar and order a coffee! .... it felt so special the first time! :-)

It was in 2008, I would say october or something like that... I don't remember exactly... it has been an year of changes... and big ones...

  

Now that I quite like coffee - very sweet and with a lot of milk - I really enjoy when I have the possibility to have a coffee with my mum... and I really feel to make "un caffè fatto con amore" for her, exactly as she likes ... and, of course, one for me, exactly how I like it ...
... and simply have a coffee with her ...

If somebody wonders what's the reason of this "coffee-thing"... 

... It's just another sleepless night ...
Buonanotte e sogni d'oro.