tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13144649.post9065160502180263277..comments2023-10-21T08:02:56.571-07:00Comments on No Dhimmitude: The RestDaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664271893389366772noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13144649.post-66459597825998252242011-08-25T14:03:07.148-07:002011-08-25T14:03:07.148-07:00I suffered for a couple of years in the Middle Eas...I suffered for a couple of years in the Middle East from the coffee there. It was little better in the Balkans. I can't recall any coffee during the war, now that I think of it. So, when I got to London I thought nothing of spending $10.00 for a cup of good stuff at Starbucks. I only did that once, I admit. <br /><br />I drink just about anything that resembles coffee and I suffer through it and don't complain much. But one afternoon in the mountains of Guatemala on the roadside, not a village but a wide space in the road where shacks were pressed against one side of the mountains and on the other where shacks were balanced on poles over a 10,000 foot drop I found a place to sit in and have coffee that was surprising. <br /><br />I entered the shack and made my way toward the window at the back where I saw a table of a kind and a plastic chair. I made my way around the hole in the plank floor where a 50 gallon burning-barrel had burnt through and dropped, and I sat it, looking out the window frame, and gazed at a medley of greens in the jungle across the next mountain of the valley. Pairs of birds flew back and forth, green parrots with yellow trim, some scissor-tailed fly-catchers, and others I don't recall so well. But the toucans! Yes, I recall those well. I had my coffee, hardly noticing it except to hold onto the terra cotta cup that would have rolled away from not having a flat bottom. My cup was whatever the local potter could make with necessary effort and nothing more. I took a sip of my coffee and was enthralled by the birds. I took a second sip...<br /><br />And I realised then that I was having the best cup of coffee I had ever had. <br /><br />I've never had any coffee so good since. In Mexico I drank swill, and it was fine enough. But one time in my life I had the best coffee in the world.Daghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10664271893389366772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13144649.post-10550851443765607742011-08-25T04:01:49.075-07:002011-08-25T04:01:49.075-07:00During your time in Mexico did you drink cafe amer...During your time in Mexico did you drink cafe americano or local-style?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com