Travel and coffee intertwine together. Favorite Morning Dove Coffee team memories include so much of the liminal. We all fondly recall quiet times waiting around in bus stations, train ports, and airports.
Should we put together a company travel album, please understand that many would look in befuddlement. Many of those photos would be of dusty tracks, ghostly terminals, and the food hawkers who work these places.
These pauses in travel are a wonderful excuse to sit, drink a hot cup of coffee and observe life across nations and lands.
There’s not much that beats the creamy Cafe Sua Da/ Den Da in Saigon or the bold red pour-over in Bogota or the palm-jaggery sweetened South Indian Filter Coffee in Bangalore.
For example, the drip by drip slow extraction called for in the Cafe Sua Da makes it a particular joy to receive. As you wait on the train, you also wait on the coffee. The anticipation for both rises. Once the dark, strong brew is poured over the deliciously sweet and creamy condensed milk, it’s mixed for the perfect balance of taste.
The respective coffee drink gives a pleasant dimension to the restful pause. It’s comforting, has a familiar taste, but is yet different depending on the cultural take.
Quiet times, so often avoided, are a sudden but necessary occurrence on the road. After the harried rush of go-go-go, the sudden stop feels like a bucket of cold water. These quiet places, these bus stations, train terminals, and airports contain a wake-up call and sudden remembrance. What are we doing here and where are we going?
Travel and coffee intertwine together but they also have a companion: His name is Reflection.