by Roberto Alvarez-Galloso

Created on: May 20, 2008   Last Updated: September 12, 2011

In my opinion, coffee is better than tea. People may disagree with me but coffee is a way of relaxing. Imagine just sitting down to a hot latte or a cold frappucino with jazz music, especially Miles Davis, Santana, or even Paquito D Rivera in the background. Coffee is not just a great drink but it is the beverage of people who are independent in mind, heart, and soul. Coffee is invigorating and is a symbol of liberty. I will never forget as a small child having three big cups of Espresso at an Italian or Cuban Restaurant and three to four pitchers of American Coffee at the nearest Holiday Inn, Howard Johnsons, Bob's Big Boy, Marriott, and Shoneys. It was never the caffeine nor the sugar that called my attention, it was the taste, the aroma, the background jazz funk fusion music.

Johann Sebastian Bach [the German Baroque Composer who lived from 1685 to 1750 and wrote the Brandenburg Concertos] dared to insult one of the admirers of his music with his Coffee Cantata saying that those who drink coffee are slaves. Johann Sebastian Bach had coffee all wrong since people who drink it are not slaves but people looking for their freedom. Even the French politician of the nineteenth century whose name was Talleyrand once extolled the virtues of coffee.

Coffee has been known to prevent Alzheimers Dementia and Parkinsons Disease when taken in moderation. Yet for the writer of this article, I can admit to drinking eight cups of coffee on a daily basis and still feel energy from the aroma. It has also helped with my writing as well. I could still remember in my trip to Europe how I enjoyed the various coffee palaces. There are three coffee palaces that came to my mind. The Coffee Palace in Rome, Italy in 1973 had all forms of coffee including the coffee milk shake which was known as Frappucino. The Coffee Palace in Basel, Switzerland in 1973 which was situated in a restaurant on the third floor of a building which housed a discotheque and water closet on the second floor and a beauty salon / barber shop on the first floor had a coffee that was rich in flavour and texture. The Coffee Palace in the Commercial Centre [Shopping Mall] BAB 2 in Anglet, France in 1987 had all of the coffee including coffee imported from Cuba, Angola, Mozambique, Laos, and Vietnam. I had the honour of drinking the coffee that was imported from these above mentioned countries. So much for being a slave to coffee. Coffee drinkers of the world, unite and Enjoy Your Cup of Coffee.

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