I want to participate in the initiative proposed for this week, about an experience in a coffee shop and it seems to me that this little story is ideal to share in this weekly proposal because of how much it meant to me.
Based on the above, here is my participation.
A few days ago I had a beautiful, natural and nostalgic experience. To be honest, it was not in a coffee shop, but it did have coffee as the main protagonist.
I happened to be at the Starfish four Palms Hotel in Varadero, my wife and I had just finished dinner. We were leaving the dining room and were about to go to a hotel cafeteria to have a cup of coffee. However, it was not necessary because in front of the exit of the restaurant there was a singular character delighting the tourists who were in the place and who wanted to enjoy what he was preparing.
When I saw what it was I exclaimed: A coffee strainer!
At this expression the gentleman looked up and called me, asked me where I was from and if I liked coffee. He told me that my expression caught his attention because coladera is the name given to what is used to brew coffee in rural areas of the country.
I told him that I lived for 17 years in Moa, Holguin province, but that I studied for 5 years in Matanzas province, which is where Varadero beach is located. I explained to him that this way of making coffee has a special significance for me because it takes me back to my childhood and my adolescent youth.
He asked me to tell him the story and here are three essential elements.
With a strainer I tasted the first coffee I drank from the hands of my maternal grandmother,
In the rural area where I lived I learned to make coffee using this utensil,
The first coffee that my wife drank in my house was made by my mother in a strainer.
For these reasons, you can understand my nostalgia when I saw the way in which that man strained the coffee and offered it to the hotel guests. This experience transported me in a few minutes to my childhood, I was able to bring my mother and grandmother to the present and know that, in every aspect of my life, even though they are not physically present, they are always present.
An interesting element is that this man named Luis Laza did not charge for coffee, he gave it away for free; although, I must say that he earned more that way because of the tips given to him by the tourists.
At the end he asked me to take some pictures of us, something I was planning to do.
I asked him for his consent to upload them in a publication in this community, I explained more or less what it was about and he said yes.
A final comment
My life is a concert of memories and situations in which my mother figure is always present. How nostalgic I felt that day, but what a joy to know that my life without my mother is impossible and that in the happiest moments of my life she is always there!
Note: The photos were taken with my Samsung J2 phone.
I used the translator DeepL Translate.