Therapy Café:
Coffee, Communion, and Odysseys
One of my favorite things is in the world is coffee. Legend has it that coffee was discovered in Ethiopia by goats, or perhaps more accurately by the goat herder observing the energized goats who had just eaten these berries. In my mind, it was the young Ethiopian Dionysus offering a gift to humanity. I know what you’re thinking. Here is another Greek suggesting that everything originated from the Greeks. Perhaps, but think about this, Herodotus, the ancient historian, wrote that Zeus carried Dionysus to Nysa in Ethiopia just after he was born. Indeed, many of his origin stories have Dionysus arriving from Ethiopia. Surely he offered a gift to his adopted land before returning home.
I don’t drink coffee for the caffeine though, it does nothing to me. I can drink at midnight and be asleep a half-hour later. For me, the aroma and taste of coffee is a love affair with sensation. In one trip, I threw out three espressos from three different cafes until I found one whose scent and taste compelled me to close my eyes and experience a moment of union with pleasure.
Drinking coffee is also a ritual of communing with myself and others. Thus, I also love a good café. I remember talking to a café owner once at a place on the Drive that I used to frequent. I complimented her on the space she had cultivated and the amazing…
