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Recently, I was invited for coffee at a neighbor’s home. To be even clearer, the invitation came from a retired neighbor while we were in Germany. In Germany, between the hours of approximately two and five o’clock, coffee and cake are a bit of a social ritual and, certainly, a long standing tradition. The Spanish may siesta, but the Germans drink coffee and eat cake. Our coffee time was scheduled for three o’clock.
Of course, I accepted the invitation, but my conundrum was that I only drink coffee in the mornings. For me, any sort of caffeine consumption, typically, after the 11 o’clock hour, leads to an eyes wide awake situation for me throughout the night. But in accepting the invitation to coffee from an older, traditional German woman, I knew that declining the cup of coffee would be rude. And I didn’t want to be the American who was insulting. In addition, in having already accepted the invitation with the information that I am gluten free, I understood that if I wanted to imbibe in a decaf coffee, I would have needed to place this demand as a preorder as well.
Ironically, Germans mastered the process of decaffeinating coffee. It was Ludwig Roselius who first created the commercialized blend of coffee that removed, as he thought, the poison from the bean. I note that this is ironic because in all my time spent in Germany, I cannot ever recall being offered a decaf coffee anywhere. I am sure that decaf coffee exists and can be purchased in the store. But I have never seen it. Plus, in Germany, coffee machines are a trophy household appliance. My coffee machine prefers coffee beans and as most Germans enjoy caffeinated coffee, there isn’t a compartment for decaf beans. Rather there are only buttons for coffee type such as espresso or cappuccino, and coffee strength. I assumed that my hostess would, also, not be in possession of decaf coffee beans.
I decided that I would accept the coffee offered during our late afternoon scheduled coffee and cake gathering. As noted, I did not wish to be offensive and, more importantly, I wanted to try her coffee. If Germans enjoy being judged on their coffee, I was willing and able to pass judgment. Upon arrival, I was delighted to see that her table was set with not just smaller sized coffee cups, but also, water glasses. Phew. I was happy to accept a small cup of coffee and pour myself a larger glass of water. The coffee was delicious and the conversation delightful. I was complimentary to my hostess on both her strawberry (cakeless) cake and her delicious coffee. She seemed pleased.
Later, in the evening, as my eyes grew heavy, signifying that I may, indeed, be tired, I considered going to bed. Then I thought about my late afternoon coffee and decided to stay up just a bit longer. I also took an Advil PM. Just one. But it did the trick because soon after, I fell asleep. The next morning, waking after a restful night’s sleep, I wondered if my neighbor is a distant relative of Herr Roselius?
To Bean? (or) Not to Bean?
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!
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