GIFTS, HOW?

GIFTS, HOW?

Gifts, how?

To tell the truth, for me the beauty of presents is the search, the moment when you think of the most suitable thing for the person who will receive it, the instant when you look at the eyes, hoping it will be a surprise, hoping to see joy.

But I also have been so lucky to receive gifts of the kind that

The excellence of a gift lies in its appropiateness rather than in its value.
Charles Dudley Warner 

So here it is:

the illuminated sign

Regali come?

which my husband has already strategically placed in my reading corner.

The bookmark with the cup 

Regali, come?Regali, come?Regali, come?

ready to be with me in reading my next book

Il Caffè della Terra coffee produced in Vigevano

Regali, come?Regali, come?

How about it?

Would you like to tell me about a gift of yours?

A gift received or given, a guessed gift or an embarrassing gift, a useful or desired gift, a bizarre gift or the gift you will never forget.

I generally always take a long time for presents, some people choose a shop and then find everything quickly.

Do you have a strategy or do you rely on chance?

Do you plan months in advance or do you dedicate yourself to presents in December?

Do you ever follow a common thread?

Do you prefer to request gift wrapping from the retailer or do you take care of it yourself?

Lately, many shopkeepers use the logo shopper bag, which is no longer included in the price.

Do you think the anti-waste concept or the surprise is more important?

What if you receive a gift that for some reason you will definitely not use?

Coffee’s ready, sit down and we’ll talk!

MY BAR, FAMILY, HEALTH

MY BAR, FAMILY, HEALTH

My bar, family, health … this is the recipe that Anna Possi gives us as an example of a centenarian.

Yes: tireless Anna in front of the espresso machine at the Bar Centrale in Nebbiuno on the occasion of her 100th birthday declared:

I don’t want anything, I already have everything. My bar, my family, my health, my brain is fine… What counts is being among people, loneliness hurts.

What can I say! First of all, many many good wishes also from Keep Calm & Drink Coffee and then sincere congratulations for the message that is certainly worth sharing.

Being among people

Do you agree with Anna?

Do you also think that being among people is what counts?

Or do you love solitude

My bar.

Can loving your job, or being able to turn your passion into a business, really be the essential component?

Health.

One more secret to longevity for Anna is to eat little.

I think I can say that we all agree, on the theory, of course on the practice … do you know how to moderate your meals

Between ‘my bar’ and ‘health’: family.

Il mio bar, la famiglia, la salute

Family:  a word that in a broad sense encompasses a universe, so varied and multifaceted that it cannot fit into a specific description.

It is no coincidence that countless quotations are striking in this regard:

I do think that families are the most beautiful things in all the world!
Louisa May Alcott

A happy family is, but an earlier heaven.
George Bernard Shaw

The family will last as long as man. It is the cradle of humanity.
Giuseppe Mazzini

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life.
Albert Einstein

In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony.
Friedrich Nietzsche

And in your opinion?

DIRTY COFFEE

DIRTY COFFEE

Dirty coffee literally the result of the brewing that is going crazy is indeed a dirty coffee.

But it is not the coffee that gets dirty, on the contrary: the coffee dirties the milk.

Remember the recipe for Dalgona Coffee

Again, cold milk and coffee are needed, the milk must be very cold while the coffee must be very hot because it is precisely the contrast between the temperatures that creates the dirty effect.

And in this case too, the inspiration comes from the East.

Dirty Coffee inventor Katsuyuki Tanaka of Bear Pond Espresso ベアポンドエクスプレス in Tokyo.

Dirty Coffee

Japan, then.

Inevitably, one thinks back to Toshikazu Kawaguchi川口俊和‘s trilogy and Before the coffee gets cold

In this case, however, Katsu brings with him his part of life in New York‘s East Village.

Katsu tells how it all started with a New York Times columnist.

How is layering achieved?

Iced milk: must be prepared by filling a transparent glass with whole milk. The temperature of the milk must be very low to create this thermal contrast with the espresso.

Coffee: prepare a ristretto espresso.

Pour carefully: pour the coffee over the cold milk little by little and gently. The espresso will sit on top of the milk, slowly descending to create an attractive layered effect.

Don’t stir: for a perfect Dirty Coffee just refrain from stirring the drink.

Are you of the type: I discover a new preparation and immediately feel inspired to try it?

Will you tell me about your Dirty Coffee?

COFFEE PRICE

COFFEE PRICE

No doubt that coffee price has risen.

Wherever and in whatever way you buy it.

In particular we are paying seven euros more in a short time.

Considering this, my husband set about calculating the difference for us who with a kilo of coffee go over 142 cups on the basis of seven grams each, comparing the cost today and the cost six months ago.

il prezzo del caffèil prezzo del caffè

In general, a controversial and very popular topic is the hypothetical new price of the cup at the café: two euros.

How does price get there?

Lu had already pointed out to me a whole repertoire of common discontents, expressed in more or less colourful ways.

I am very interested in your opinion as a consumer, what do you say?

I thought to consult industry insiders and experts, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone again.

ALTOGA: National Association of Coffee Roasters, Coffee Importers and Food Wholesalers sent me the link to their press review that you can find here

Click then for the file on

comunicato stampa Altoga

The opinion of Martina Mazzoleni, marketing specialist at Caffè Ernani is as follows:

The price of espresso in the next 5/10 years willy-nilly will reach € 2.00, for the following reasons:

  • Increase in the price of the raw material i.e. green coffee, from 2019 to today the price has increased on average by 400%, some coffees have seen peaks of even 600% more.

  • Climate change: there will be more and more people asking for coffee, but there will be less and less coffee available. And by the law of supply and demand when there is more demand and less availability of a resource, the price goes up, it is economics.

  • If we want a fairer catering industry, prices must be increased. We often complain as citizens about the low wages in the restaurant industry (and I am not referring to those who hire non-compliant, etc., those are not entrepreneurs to me), but precisely about the too low wages with the industry’s collective bargaining agreements.

  • Skyrocketing running costs, if in the past it cost X to run this kind of business, today it costs X times 2, so twice as much.

  • Increased shipping costs, it doesn’t look like it but even shipping costs in the best cases have doubled, in the worst cases they have quintupled, so there must be a higher mark-up at the end to be able to pay them.

  • Wars, which created problems precisely because of the previous point, shipping.

  • Pay fairly at origin too, if we want to stop exploiting farmers and pay the right price for green coffee, we must also raise prices to consumers.

  • Apart from Italy, no country still has coffee prices this low, we are lagging behind.

  • With the entry of the new EUDR, even less coffee will be allowed to be imported into Europe, so even higher prices are expected in 2025.

Finally, I understand that consumers rightly cannot afford too high coffee prices, but this is a problem of wages that are not being raised by the state at national level, not of the baristas or coffee roasters who in the last 4 years are simply trying to survive the worst crisis our sector has seen since coffee became a global commodity, i.e. since the 16th century.

Giulia Spinoni of IEI Italian Espresso Institute provided me with a document with an emblematic title: no to instrumentalisation.

Click for the press release

Istituto Espresso Italiano

Trieste Coffee Association you already know it: we talked about the unofficial capital of coffee

Once again I would like to refute the alleged coldness of the north-east: once again I had the privilege of finding maximum availability and exquisite cordiality.

The president: Arianna Mingardi is among those women with whom one is immediately on the same wavelength, where it is the value of people that counts.

I contacted the association in a particularly fervent period for Trieste, so I say stay tuned because we will have the opportunity to chat further on the subject.

To stay for now on the coffee price issue: the president explained to me that, starting with the raw material, i.e. raw coffee, the increases have been slow but continuous, in step with adverse weather conditions.

However, it is not only the price that has risen: consumption has also increased significantly, especially from countries that previously did not consume coffee.

The logistical situation is also very difficult, due to very long waits for transit through the Suez Canal, or alternatively, the circumnavigation of Africa.

Even considering the real speculations that affect this as well as other sectors, the main thing that emerges is the attention paid to the protection of a supply chain that affects the entire territory at various levels, aimed at making coffee a valuable beverage.

Before concluding, I would also like to issue an invitation to our Laura from Al tavolo di Amalia to get the point of view of Naples: what about suspended coffee at the price of two euros?

BIRTHDAY GIFT

BIRTHDAY GIFT

SPECIAL birthday present for KCDC!

Keep Calm & Drink Coffee turns four years old, I just ten lustres older, but we both received this fantastic gift from Elisa Mirko and Diego

Don’t you think it’s perfect?

As you know I love cats, the coffee cup is really cute and the attitude is absolutely iconic.

Speaking of iconic cats, do you have a favourite?

Maybe Sylvester Cat, from Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.

Or Tom from Hanna-Barbera

Maybe Felix the cat

Or Garfield

In my memories of fairy tales is Puss in Boots,  the one about the Marquis of Carbas.

Also nice is the version of Puss in Boots from Shrek.

The kitty Keep Calm & Drink Coffee on the other hand, what do we call him?

Did you know that cats sleep an average of 12 to 16 hours with peaks of 18 hours?

Practically twice as long as we sleep.

What can we say? We have only to learn!

KCDC kitty even has an eye mask!

I’d launch a poll to see what the favourite name is, for example, between:

SLIPPER

SLIPPERS & COFFEE

SLEEPY SLIPPER

KEEP CALM A CAT

KEEP CALM & WEAR SLIPPERS

PURRED COFFEE

KEEP CALM & PURRED COFFEE

CUPCAT

THE CAT IN SLIPPERS

But I’m sure you’ll come up with a better idea!

So tell me! What name shall we give the birthday present?

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