Cafe Society

L

"Let's take a coffee!"  When you hear your MAK friends say this, the only answer is "yes".  In Macedonia, coffee is serious business as well as dang good. They have been brewing coffee well before Starbucks came along and ruined it for us. It came with the Turks about 600 years ago. 

The traditional way to make coffee is the Turkish (or Makedonski) style. Here you take a small pot, like one of the old pots below and boil water. Then add some finely ground coffee, this is almost like powder.  Add this to the hot but not boiling water, stir. Do not let this boil or it will look like one of those coke and Mentos experiments from elementary school!  Add sugar and stir while having a very serious look on your face. The pour it all into a cup. Milk is for sissies.  It is quite good.  The important part comes now. You must talk about things, anything, but not about work. Work is for sissies and can be discussed later when you are not doing important stuff like drinking coffee.  If you have not finished your discussions the only option is another cup of coffee, maybe with a cake. Not a sweet cake, that is for sissies. Maybe a cake with dark chocolate. 

Soon you will finish your important work because if you take 3 coffees you will be crazy and do no work at all. That is ok, because you did the important thing by taking coffee with your colleagues. I think America needs important coffee like this and less frou-frou coffee like Starbucks. 

If you are frou-frou like I am sometimes you can get a cappuccino like the one above. Excellent as well but mostly for tourists or the feeble. When you visit you must take a coffee with me and tell me how you have been. We have time!

Al

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