For the love of coffee

Ever since we got a French neighbor who showed how coffee is made from a French press, I have discovered a new joy from coffee. I like to brew my coffee. I like the smell of my coffee. I like to savor my coffee. Coffee is not a just another drink, it is a joy. It fills me up with a sense of contentment and a buzz that caffeine induced coffee can give. A light happy feeling. I would much rather puke than have bad coffee. Nescafe is bad coffee. I hate it. I think it has no aroma, no taste and definitely no kick. Why would anybody waste their coffee drinking time (yes, it’s a time, an era, a period, a pause, a breath, an experience) on Nescafe. Yuck. I keep telling Jasmine to stop having her Nescafe and move to nice coffee. It’s not worth it.

Every time I have my coffee I try to savor it because of a few other issues. The weird but true thing that coffee gives me is addiction. Instant. If I have coffee two days in a row, on the third day, I will get withdrawal symptoms. Very rarely – I get it the next day itself. These are bad withdrawal symptoms. Mind numbing headache that refuses to go away. Then it triggers a kind of acidity symptom. Then I end up puking empty. Then I don’t know what to do except lie down. I got these symptoms two three times and I did not understand why. Jasmine suggested that I have a little coffee to see it works. It did. The symptoms go away after having a little black coffee. Instantly. It so bloody weird how caffeine addiction works for my body. It’s a good thing I don’t drink or smoke or else, this would have gotten out of hand. If coffee can do this, what would harder stuff be capable of in my body. So, I savor my coffee. Whenever I drink coffee, I know I can’t have coffee the next day then. So, I think through, what’s my schedule for tomorrow? Am I at home, am I meeting someone at Starbucks? I have to be sure when I have my coffee. At home I like my own brew. Sometimes, I have a hot brew and sometimes I have a cold brew. I put the coffee beans in the filter and put the water to let it drip overnight. The result is a lovely brew without the hard acid. I love this brew. Then I also love the Sumatra Mandeling coffee. A lovely pour over that is chocolatey and again non-acidic. I like to smell my coffee, taste the notes and understand the different kick it gives. Jispa shares my love for coffee. I make her some coffee and she also enjoys it. Jasmine keeps telling me that I am spoiling her and teaching her bad habits. So, said the lady who has her kick every day!

I love my coffee. My everyday (ok every alternate day) brew is a simple no1 roast, coarsely ground. Then I make my almond milk (ok, jasmine made a lot and froze it for me). Then I have this amazing foamer that our French neighbor gifted me. I put sugar in the black coffee over which I pour some almond milk, foamed and of course, importantly – a few drops of real vanilla extract. That’s my poison. That’s my quiet brew. That’s the coffee I enjoy and savor. I rather not have anyone beside me but it doesn’t really matter, as with my coffee. I am in a cocoon of my own. It’s an experience that I pass on to Jispa. Ofcourse hers is sweeter, with Nutella and whipped cream. But hell, it coffee nevertheless.

Last week, I had gone to visit a friend of mine. He is an angel investor and also loves his coffee. He keeps buying different blends from different parts of the world. His servant knows I am lactose intolerant and keeps soy milk for me and my coffee. This time when I visited him, she served me a lovely nutty falvourful sweetish coffee. It seemed to have vanilla overtones and it was nice and creamy and light. Nice. Not a strong aroma but an interesting flavor. “a nice nutty flavor” I remarked. “Which one?”. He called the lady and she said, this was the bean he bought from Japan. “Oh nice. I loved the coffee” I said, thanking her. “oh that was sirs coffee. For you I gave you Nescafe”. ……   ………  ……..   …….. I looked at blankly. “oh” I was being polite to the person who burst my bubble. My entire coffee drinking experience flashed in front of me. My era, my tastes, my notes, my kick. I felt like a balloon that a kid blows big and then releases to see how far up it goes. The balloon feels a massive acceleration and joy accompanied with a sense of elation and achievement only to realise soon enough that this shortlived acceleration is not only random with no real distance covered but also short lived. The joy of the child is not in the acceleration of the balloon but in the rapid deceleration that follows it. The random fall of the balloon gives far greater joy as the speed dies a stupid death, all alone, limp and lifeless fall to earth drawn by the unyielding gravity. It’s the fall that’s exciting as the kid picks up the balloon and sees that the exhaust is now again bigger than the balloon inflated sense of self. It’s the fall that’s funnier than the rise.

Yes, Olympus had fallen from its lofty height.

Expect that it wasn’t Olympus, it was Phoenix that got burned. Only to rise again. “possibly it was the soy that gave its nutty flavour’ “ya”. “possibly she took the malt flavoured one.”

I came back and recounted this tale to Jasmine and Jispa. Jasmine especially took a cruel liking to this and laughed her ass out. Jispa also fun. I had too much fun on this as well. This one is going to be an interesting party tale which jasmine will never tore of listening to. My guess is that she will tell others of it as well, on her own.

But then Phoenix understood that its job is to rise again. Yes. I missed it but Nescafe is still bad coffee. I hate it. I like making my coffee. Getting the flavor, the notes, the time, the era, the vanilla and the whole ritual associated with it. That is still stubbornly set in my head. I love my coffee and I will have it my way.

This is the same way in which I like my coca cola. I hate Pepsi and I hate Thumbs Up. I love my coca cola. Direct from a can or a glass bottle that’s fresh opened. I hate the plastic bottle. It a can or glass. I am firm. I rather not have anything than have a rubbish cola. This is also a sin that I allow myself. Its full of sugar and caffeine but it’s my other little vice. Many people talk about their marked preferences about colas and always I have argued that a cold bottle of any beverage is almost impossible to tell apart in a blind taste test. I don’t think it’s possible to statistically get it right a good number of times. I always say – I like Coca Cola and I am sure that I can make out its great taste but I am even more sure that I will fail the blind taste test. I don’t think I can make out the taste without the lettering on the beverage holder.

Coffee is similar. It’s not the taste or the kick. The addiction symptom and the forbidden brew that makes it what it is. It’s the ritual of knowing your coffee, of seeing the foma rise. It’s the foamer that makes the luxurious foam. It’s the feeling of the ritual that adds to the whole thing. Coke has sugar in it, shitloads and that makes it a thing to avoid and to therefore a thing to savor. Like the fact that Dettol hurts proves that it is effective, the sting is vital to the experience. The ritual is vital to the taste of coffee. It’s the ritual, it’s the lettering, it’s the associated feeling. Who else but a brand guy like me will know. It’s so nice to know how wrong we are and how we are affected by emotions like anyone else.

Yesterday I was in this big meeting helping this big firm trying to sort their big B2B marketing problem. I urged the marketing head to think differently. I urged her to think that B2B is as much affected by emotion than anything else. Like most other purchases, like my coffee, like my coke, a marketing head also buys on emotion. He uses rational numbers to prove his emotions and justify them. But the decision is irrational in many ways. The faster we accept it the better it is for us. I urged her to think emotions and therefore realise that this is like any B2C brand and that people don’t remember too many brands and too many propositions. It’s like any B2C brand. Entertain the prospect, have fun, do interesting things. Have interesting creatives. Think like any fun marketer should and map it to a consumer’s brand journey. People are same everywhere. Treat them with respect of their time, entertain them, engage them and then doors open. That’s a simple truth in life and marketing. It works all the time.

That’s why I like my coffee. Hating Nescafe gives me great joy and allows me to enjoy my coffee. Same with Coke. Same with so many other things. I am a normal person, so are you and the forces that act on us act on every one of us. Understand that, enjoy life!

Hence paradoxically data and lots of it becomes important.  Individually people are quirky but as a lot of them, they are interesting and not so difficult to predict. But then that is a topic for another blog :)

Silver

After all these years of crazy schedules, hard work and complete madness, now I am satisfied. Done. I am now a tired parent. This thing has taken a huge toll on me and I am sure it has taken a massive one on Jasmine, as well. We have worked our lives around a hope and in the end, we have something really big to show for it.

The year also has been nasty for Jispa. She has been unwell, muscle injury and exhaustion to cope with. She runs on two fronts – school and swimming simultaneously. She aims to achieve greatness in both. This year she faltered for no real fault of hers but in the end, she finished strong. After a strong showing at the Mumbai selection meets, we were superbly satisfied and honestly, I could expect no more. Then she finished strong at the state selection meet where she had a bagful of medals. This was too much for me, personally. It was more than what I dreamt of or even aspired for. Now at the just concluded Nationals, Jispa comes back with a Silver which she won as a part of a medley relay team. Wow. A national medal! In an age group that spans three years and she is the youngest. That was some achievement.

Jispa is not a naturally gifted swimmer or a naturally gifted athlete. It’s tough for her. It’s not like we threw her into the pool and she started winning. Winning has been a tough one for her. She has seen so many years of participation without real glory. This is her second nationals in so many years. She would qualify for state and then not win. There are far too many talented girls in swimming and it’s tough when you are not naturally gifted.

We kept the swimming schedule on hope. And her wish. She wanted to continue with her swimming and we hoped that it won’t be cruel to her. Jispa is fit and strong but like me, something is wrong with her overall well-being. As a child, I was so sickly and thin and a complete mess at excelling at sports. I was fit and ran but never the naturally talented guy who could just show up and win. That honor belongs to my brother. I have had to struggle to get anywhere in my life I stood on my own thanks to the grit that I developed in myself. Jispa is also similar. She is not the naturally talented at math or swim or English. She has an ability to think and think through very smartly but that does not automatically mean winning. She also has been notoriously difficult to coach from childhood. She is improving but it’s not that she has to think it and her body follows. Her body over compensates and does its own thing. I sure even her coaches get confused how to treat her. Immense potential thanks to perseverance and hard work but not a natural athlete. Sometimes I think what if she had pursued a sport like badminton or something where you have to not only show technique and skill but you also have to out think the competition. How would that have been. That should be fun.

Right now, that medal around her neck is so much a reflection of Jasmine’s and Jispa’s dedication and doggedness than anything else. How did they do it? When I look at my role, I see that as a minor support and major starter. Starter in the sense that I insisted on sport being a part of her growing up and then always looked to be a part of it. Supporting it in the way that I would get up early to take her and then always be ready to help at all times. But after that, I hardly did much. Most the heavy lifting came from Jasmine. Waking up, cooking, ferrying, talking, discussing, maintaining timings, everything – that was Jasmine. I hardly did anything there. It’s not possible to be a sports kid without having a sports parent with you. One who does all the support and the other who simply lends a small helping hand.

I wonder where Jispa gets all that dedication from. That is another absolute mystery. When you know, there are kids who are far more talented than you and built for water, where do you get that resolve to keep attacking from. How does Jispa do it and do it willingly. She has a quiet ambition in her, a quiet aggression in her, a silent way to keep at it. I am amazed at this quality of hers. I would have given up long time back. So many of her swimmers gave up long time back and so many just couldn’t balance the school and swim together. That in itself is a sign of greatness. This sheer doggedness and ability to push yourself is awe inspiring. If I had half of that while I was growing up, I would have been in a different orbit. I wish I had half of that even now, I guess.

So, this the tale of me being very happy and satisfied. A NATIONAL LEVEL MEDAL. Jispa is a national medalist. I want to frame that medal and hang it on the wall. I asked her if she would be embarrassed by it. (Yes she would be) But then now that I think it, I think I should make a large frame and put a few more medals and keep a big monument to swimming on one side of the wall in the hall. That would be something. Jispa will die of embarrassment. That itself would be worth half the effort.

I find this opposites in her quite interesting. Very high on aggression but at loathe to show it. Very high on perseverance but a very relaxed ‘let it be’ attitude. An ability to get a bit tensed but still maintain her balance. She is not one way or the other. Small small opposites reconcile in her. Loving but only so. Caring but only so. Friendly, but only so. I wonder if she is an introvert or an extrovert. She mixes it up so much. Of course, as parents it drives us up all the walls in the house, but it will be an interesting and endearing quality of hers as she grows up. Her partner is going to go bonkers for sure, but it will serve her well. I sense that she may even have good leadership qualities when pushed to it. The quiet level 5 leadership that is so elusive, but she will need to hone it. Professional determination and personal humility. She exhibits this in her life for now and in what she has achieved. If she continues this as a means of living her life, then she has a chance to end strong. I don’t have this combination in a way that it could be, but Jispa has some tremendous appetite for it. It’s too early and leadership traits as well as decision making traits are difficult to spot for now and they develop as they grow up. But for now – they are fine and I am happy with the signs they show.

Finally – I am a very very proud father today and a proud husband. It’s a biggie and an amazing accomplishment. We have a national level champion in the family. I am so happy. Thank you Jispa and Jasmine. Thanks a lot. It means a lot to me. A hell of a lot.