The Sunshine-Espresso-Pause

At first glance, there’s nothing particularly impressive about this teensy pottered cup.

Looking and feeling like sandstone on the outside with a deep blue matte lining on the inside, the cup is warm to the touch (as it should be). Pleasantly warm. “That’s a nice heat,” you might say. Within, golden brown crema shimmers like velvet over a humble amount of liquid—barely enough to drown a sugar cube. How piddly!

And yet… The cup meets my lips.

Because I had the grand foresight to not burn my tongue on a hot beverage I’ve sipped thousands of times before, I waited until the liquid cooled to the kind of heat that reminds you you’re alive, but also, don’t rush things… You impatient goose.

The espresso enters me with a familiar flood of sensation, leaving me weak in the knees as it melts across my tongue, full of that bold and roasty coffee flavour.

Then, like a sunbeam squeaking its way through a jungle canopy, the sweetness arrives. Not sugary sweetness though (and good riddance I say). No… I’m talking about that strawberry sweetness usually reserved for a midsummer’s day with a bowl of vanilla ice cream, and perhaps some whipped cream.

And then the kicker! The sunshine!

The sunshine isn’t part of the espresso, technically speaking. But when the golden warmth hits your forearms as the espresso melts across your tongue, the two experiences fuse into something sacred that simply has no compare.

Ahhh.

A small breeze joins the sacred espresso-sunshine-pause, how splendid. From somewhere high and far above, a raven cries. From somewhere near, a duck quacks.

With love from the forest,

~ Alexander