Coffee stories

The most important decisions are made by means of  coffee  . We've all been in that situation once: sitting in front of a well at a bar table, waiting for someone or pausing to think.

Then, what changes are the stories: a love that begins or one that ends; the business of your life or a great job proposal; the best news or the worst, that deep down you expected. Laughter and tears. Reunions and grudges. Projects and finals. That's why cafes are so important in the life of a city.

The streets of Buenos Aires are full of cafes and in each of them the same sequences are repeated. Drinking coffee is the way to socialize  Buenos Aires : when he wants to meet someone, the place is the bar. But it is also the environment to take a moment for one, read the diary or just watch how people pass by the sidewalk.

The residents of Buenos Aires are aware of this and, recently, voted for their favorite: Las Violetas, in Almagro, was chosen the best  notable coffee in the City . Why? For its architecture, attention and products. But, above all, for their stories.

That a café — Las Violetas or any other — is the scene of so many stories is no coincidence. There is something about them that attracts us, holds us back and brings us back. Maybe every morning, maybe every week, but we're back. It is the tranquility that gives the known, the same faces. The personalized treatment of the waiter, who becomes a friend. It's knowing that he's going to bring us the coffee we always drink, without needing us to ask for it. It's to be able to set up a traveling office for hours without anyone rush us.

It is also the weekly  tradition of meeting between friends, the repetition that — far from boring — makes us feel part of something. It is to bring that new person in our life to know our place, and the joy of sharing it. It is the happiness of everyday life. It's watching the city pass from our chosen refuge. It's looking up and feeling at home.

Coffee to go?

A few years ago an American way of drinking coffee was popularized in Buenos Aires that is well known to anyone who has watched Hollywood movies or series “pochocleras”. In these productions, there is always a scene where we see the well-dressed protagonist walking around New York while drinking coffee in her disposable white glass with tapita. The famous custom of  “coffe to go” (coffee to go).

This modality of traveling coffee was very successful in the large cities of our country, and the reason is not only the taste of drinks. The reason for the success of these foreign companies is that they adapted to our customs. In addition to offering us the coffee to go, they have a space for us to sit and enjoy it, like any national confectionery. This is not common in other cultures.

And it is that the Argentine, and especially the Buenos Aires, may be attracted to the idea of drinking their morning coffee while walking down the street in winter, but he will never fail to appreciate that safe place: the favorite table of his trusted bar. The plastic cup with lid can prevent us from falling asleep on the subway, but it will never replace the white well and its characteristic gesture understood by all the waiters. Coffee to go is a great option if we are in a hurry, but it does not give us a break in the maelstrom of the day. A passing coffee can accompany us, but it doesn't give us any memorable history.