The best coffees

Yesterday I was visited by a friend whom I had not seen for a long time, he is almost my age and like me he is a teacher, also retired.

In this kind of conversations it is inevitable to talk about old times, about the experiences we have had throughout our lives. So the most natural thing to do was to talk about the years we spent in the university classrooms.

I served my friend a coffee and while we drank it we started to talk about how difficult it would be to be a teacher in these times of artificial intelligence, when it is very easy for anyone to send someone to do their essays without any intellectual effort.

We both agreed that if it were our turn to go back to the classroom we would not send any homework. All the work would be done with the students during class and with special attention to the oral activity. That way we felt we would challenge the students to be more prepared to defend their ideas in front of the whole group.

Suddenly my friend became silent, concentrated, as if he saw something in the bottom of his cup... Do you remember the cafetines...? Of all the beautiful moments we spent talking about the human and the divine no matter how many hours passed...? He told me, inviting me with his gaze to participate in those common memories...

Of course, I answered him...! The cafés were part of our existence. There we talked about everything. We could share with the students in an informal way. I am sure that in those chats, while drinking coffee, all of us, the students and us, learned more about life than in any class we could have.

We continued talking for another long time and at the end we said goodbye with the promise, unfulfilled many times, of not letting so much time pass without visiting each other...

I went to the kitchen, made a cup of very mild coffee and sat down on the porch of my house. And even though it was the same coffee as always, it didn't taste the same to me as the one I had shared with my friend a while before. I kept thinking about it.

Something very curious happens to me with coffee, it is a great companion to clear my thoughts.

Sometimes it happens to me that because of some unforeseen problem or because of the stresses of the day, my mind enters a state of confusion, my outlook becomes cloudy and I find it difficult to find solutions. In those cases I always turn to coffee, the best antidote for those moments when I need to relax. A cup of coffee helps me to regain my calm. There are many solutions that I have found with my eyes looking at the infinite, while I feel the warmth of the hot cup in the palms of my hands.

But I have no doubt that the best coffee, the one that leaves me with a unique taste, the one I long for the most, is the one I share with others. That coffee sipped slowly while conversing with my wife or with my friends has the power to connect me with a very special feeling.

It is probable that this love for coffee shared with others is the legacy of a long family tradition. In my family, coffee has always been present in gatherings to celebrate life, in important conversations, and in the triviality of any board game. Coffee has always served to bring us closer together.

Thank you for your time.