#90 Coffee

If you meet any Guatemalan, you will hear about coffee. You’ll be shocked to learn that we drink it since age one or about having a cup before going to bed. With me, Janne also had free talks on the history of coffee in Guatemala.

Janne loved drinking coffee. There are always two coffee cups in my photos at cafés. I remember some of the conversations we were having or, later, when boys were around. If we went for a walk, we might have a coffee to go.

At home, we tried pouring boiling water in ground coffee, a filter coffee machine, an Italian coffee maker, a fancy metal cafetière and then we graduated to an Aeropress device. We moved from buying ground coffee to beans (always Guatemalan).

When Daniel was a baby, Janne complained of how much work was to make a coffee. I never gifted her stuff for the house or the kitchen, but there was one exception. I surprised her one day for her birthday by buying a pricy quality coffee machine. That changed her life.

That machine broke after seven years, so I just got another one immediately. We still have it at home. I calibrated the strength, amount of water, milk amount to Janne’s taste. The perfect coffee made her happy.

When she went into the hospital that last time, she missed her coffees. I talked with her doctor if I could bring a fresh coffee to Janne every morning. She thought it was a good idea. Hospital staff thought differently, but I didn’t care. I would drive 30 minutes with a fresh cup of coffee with a dash of her Barista oat milk, find my way to sneak into her room, stay with her for 20 minutes and then drive back home to the boys.

One day, Janne just didn’t drink the coffee I brought. Sometimes she’d ask for an espresso from the machine at the hospital. And then, she didn’t want coffee at all. I still kept sneaking into the hospital every morning even if just to give her a kiss and chat with her.

Ironically, I’m writing this alone in a café while Daniel parkours. Today it’s been an unusual day with activities. Every morning I wake up, turn on our coffee machine on and I have one or many more coffees.

But the coffee aroma is less enjoyable without Janne’s smile in front of me.