Eric Wamanji
Yep! Great Coffee slaps like a million kisses. Admittedly, coffee runs in my veins. My day starts and ends with coffee -with
short breaks to the coffee shop or the coffee dispenser. Well, I grew up in a coffee world where we cherished the notion of roasting and grinding the cherries –it was a daily thriller.
While young, it was fascinating to see the WWII grinder crushing the beans gram by gram. Then the dark-brown powder released a charming fragrance that delighted our senses. It was even grander to sip what I thought was the drink of the gods. And we pretended to be little connoisseurs endorsing and rubbishing the brew based on quality. But quality to us was dictated by the amount of sugar. Lesser sugar meant deplorable expertise.
But you can be assured these escapades didn’t amuse mom. “It’s not good for health,” she would warn. This didn’t stop us from chasing the brown powder. “After all, why were we toiling in the coffee plantations?” we wondered.
Today, I still chase the coffee aroma. And coffee shops have replaced our childhood kitchen. In fact, I avoid offices and choose coffee shops to work from. For instance I’m typing this story on a frosty August evening, the garden lamps have just been switched on, and beside me is a hot mug of coffee. This is my favourite watering hole which remains a secret for editorial ethos.
Still, like most, love is brewed over a cup of coffee. Great articles are produced over a cup of coffee. And indeed, yes, coffee oils conversations and expands networks. No wonder, in my small red world at Rococo PR & Media (rococo.co.ke) on Ngong Road, our motto is simple – Coffee Anytime!
Now I understand why it was not lost on French historian -Jules Michelet- who extolled coffee as “… the mighty nourishment of the brain… It heightens purity and lucidity, and clears the clouds of the imagination.”
Indeed, well, yeah, take coffee if you can, it’s the drink of the gods!