In my family of origin, I am considered the coffee guy. I was sitting in Brew Tulum experiencing a cafe Turko talking to another member of my family of origin. He was experiencing a Cafe de Olla, and in the family is considered to be the wine guy.
I once worked in the coffee industry and the other guy, my identical twin, works in the wine industry. No surprisingly , my twin and I look the same. One could say the same about coffee and wine. Both are liquids after all.
But that is where the similarity ends. Yes, my twin and I look the same. We were so hard to tell apart when we were younger that the only way that one could tell was to ask me to turn around to see the birthmark on the back of my neck. That trick, of course, was done only by folks who knew the birthmark was there in the first place. If you didn’t know, you guessed, or asked, or just gave up.
Maybe my twin and I chose career fields that are so outwardly similar, but inwardly different, in an unspoken, subconscious, twinpathic agreement to form our own unique identities. Probably not.
Anyway, the vine of the grape and tree of the coffee cherry had no choice but to be different. My twin brother and I still enjoy being twins but see more value in our differences. That day at Tulum I felt the coffee industry was trying to be more wine like. It shouldn’t. Take it from me, the confusion gets old after a while.
At the start of this post, I used the word experience instead of drink. Brew Tulum is a coffee experience to be sure. It is a warm, welcoming place and I recommend heading there when in St. Louis. Don’t get me wrong here, a coffee experience has it’s time and place. That morning with my twin at Tulum was just that, a memorable experience. Partly because I mistakenly put the sugared candy cube in the bottom of my cafe Turko. So first wave of me.
The barista sommelier server came over upon noticing my mistake. She smiled and gave me the explanation of how and when to apply the cube. My wine versed twin observed all this having started his coffee experience mistake free.
After some good natured humor at my expense, my wine experience twin noted that my coffee world had some catching up to do. Wine has been around for 8000 years, coffee merely 800.
Feeling fully superior to me now, he observed that Wine does better than coffee in spanning the space from everyday commodity to luxury product. He did not really say that. He confessed he took it from an article he had just read in a wine trade magazine.
I felt a bit clumsy, a little undercaffeinated, and ready to drink some coffee. I was not in the mood for an experience. So first wave of me, I know. But I’m always going to view coffee as more functional. It can be a great experience for lots of folks for sure, but just don’t put too much between my coffee and me.
For now, and for me, coffee is always going to be a part of something, not the point of something.
After drinking our experiences, and getting ready to leave, my twin did say that, according to the article, coffee is on it’s way to being a luxury experience. Fine for some folks but too confusing for me. Then again, maybe I just don’t like being the one being confused.
Comment now or think it over-both would be appreciatiated.