We’ll be honest - sometimes we bore people with our love of coffee. Sometimes people don’t really want to hear the difference between a latte and a cappuccino, or about the new coffee shop that opened right next door. Some people just want coffee. Or maybe a double skim frappucino with extra splenda and a side of olive oil (or whatever new creation Starbucks has created).
The idea for this blog began in one of those moments of boring others and thrilling ourselves. On a cold winter day, waiting for others to join in the virtual meeting, Gabe noticed the brick wall behind Saúl and asked which coffee shop he was working from. From there the conversation took off. The muted faces, growing in number on the screen, either started smiling or rolling their eyes.
They’d been on this rodeo before.
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For the two of us, Saúl and Gabe, the winding paths of how we fell in love with coffee are different, but also share a lot of similarities.
Saúl grew up drinking cafe de olla and instant coffee. In his household, coffee was often accompanied with pan dulce…and maybe some chisme (gossip) from time to time. It was the presence of his tias, primos, and other family members that made him see coffee as an important ingredient in his household. Time passed, and he reencountered coffee during his time in college. The late-night study sessions and early morning pick-me ups became a mainstay while he balanced his studies. In an effort to learn more about his city– and to have another reason not to go home between classes– Saul started frequenting coffee shops. The “writer” in him saw the coffee shop as a place of inspiration and for connection. Slowly, he started visiting different places across the city in hopes of finding the perfect study spot. And although the homework has now turned into a dissertation, he still finds a strong connection between a good cafecito (small coffee) and a good morning.
Gabe’s roots in coffee go deep into his family’s past. His Colombian great grandfather - known as “Mister Coffee” - was the head of the Colombian Coffee Federation from 1937 to 1957. While Gabe grew up as a gringo in New York City, his beloved Colombian grandmother would entertain him with stories about Manuel Mejía, her father, as a coffee trader going broke 7 times and then eventually rising the ranks in Colombia, while trying to manage his rebellious youngest daughter (and only girl of seven). To Gabe, she was always Pollo, or chicken (because she thought abuela made her sound old), and always had a pot of coffee ready to go.
This family past made Gabe curious about coffee and its links to his ancestry, but he for his early adulthood, he was not a big drinker and enjoyer of it. Being a teacher, living in Colombia for three years, and then having three small children changed all of that, and now cafe is both part of his blood and part of what keeps him running day in and day out.
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Sharing our love and history with coffee always gets the two of us going. We decided to bring that joy and passion out into the world through this blog. Our goal is to have some lighthearted fun, and share stories - not reviews - as we reflect on the intersection of coffee, Milwaukee, and people’s lives like our own.
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