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 :)
