A coffee memoir

For me, there was a lot to like about Annabel Townsend’s book, Ten Years of Misadventures is Coffee. I found so much of it familiar. Her memoir covers the years of her life that pretty much match the years of my life in my historical fiction novel, Tripio. The names, dates, and details are, of course, different. But, for each of us, it was a time of searching for the right launching point to start, or keep, a career in coffee going.

Coffee unites people in ways unique to the world’s second most valuable commodity. Oil is number one, a commodity known for causing conflict as much as anything. The unitive quality of coffee is how I found Annabel’s book in the first place. Our shared passion and fascination with coffee ties us together because we both wrote books on our experiences in the world of coffee.

Annabel was generous enough with her time to read my upcoming novel, The Trier, and supply a great short review which will appear on the back or front cover.

My coffee novels

Before this post becomes even more a commercial for The Trier, I will return to it’s original intent. As I read Ten Years and reflected on my Tripio days, I began to remember all the times I was asked, Why don’t you open your own coffeeshop? I didn’t have the answer then. It could have been that I didn’t have the money, time, or desire. Or, most importantly, I had just started a family.

Why I write coffee novels and didn’t open a coffeehouse

I am still occasionally asked why I didn’t start my own coffee place. Having finished my second coffee novel, and read Annabel’s, I can tell everyone why with the certainty and clarity that only the past can provide: Because writing about coffee is a hell of lot less complicated. As an author entrepreneur, I don’t have to worry about:

• insurance for my coffee novel
• staffing my coffee novel
• standing in the rain next to my coffee cart at the farmer’s market while I write
• finding the perfect location for my coffee novels
• building code and commercial plumbing requirements for my coffee novels
• pastry and food vendors for my coffee novels
• good weather to bring customers out to visit my coffee novels
• health and safety food handling codes requirements for my coffee novels
• coffee brewers and espresso machines installed in my coffee novels
• finding a coffee roaster for my coffee novels

Of course, writing isn’t’ easy either. But, at least I don’t have to stand in the rain to do it.