“The Italian Espresso Ceremony” is intended to be a Japanese Tea Ceremony for lovers of espresso. I am one of those lovers; in fact, I am probably addicted, and it may be a family disease: my wife told me last night that she falls asleep thinking about the espresso she will have when she wakes up. I am not exactly handy around the house, but one thing I do is to get up early and make the espresso, which is one of the reasons I am still here. More to the point, a double seriously enhances my meditation session on the way to work on the train.
I have a host of memories associated with espresso. My earliest memory of buying my own espresso goes back to high school, living in Naples, Italy. I had missed the bus to school one morning and sensing the opportunity to take advantage of circumstances which were surely beyond my control, I stopped into my neighborhood cafe, walked up to the coffee bar and placed my order. I went in there a sulky, insecure adolescent, and came out with a very manly buzz. I was hooked.
Nowadays, I am looking for ways to be more mindful, especially in the morning before I take my place on the train to meditate. I’ve been doing sun salutations as soon as I get up and whispering gathas to myself in the mirror before shaving, trying to get my head in the right place before going down to breakfast on the assumption that yoga and gathas can morph into mindfulness and spread like a virus to the rest of my life. I am sure that will happen, but I am in the mood lately for a more direct approach, which brings me back to espresso.
I do not share an affinity for archery, flower arrangement, or drinking tea with Japanese Zen masters, but just as those everyday activities have been elevated to an art form to enhance mindfulness, perhaps I can do the same for espresso. It makes sense, doesn’t it, to stick with activities that resonate with your own culture? Although I make a good cup of espresso, grinding the coffee beans and using filtered water in a traditional stove top perculator, I inevitably spill some water because the pot doesn’t quite fit in the dispenser on the fridge, then coffee grinds end up on the counter or the outside of the pot, and pouring the coffee into the cup is somehow a problem, not to mention the sugar that doesn’t all end up where it should be. Maybe I am exaggerating my incompetence a little to make the point that I am not very mindful.
As my father liked to say, it’s time to take the bull by the horns. Have you ever noticed how the Buddha was always making lists – the 4 noble truths, the 8 steps to happiness, the 31 planes of existence, etc? Well, here are my 6 obsessive compulsive steps to making a mindful cup of espresso:
1. Clean the pot thoroughly, no small grinds on the inner ring, no stains: spotless!
2. Do not spill water on the floor when you retrieve it from the refrigerator dispenser.
3. Transfer and pat down coffee grinds in the pot without dropping them on the counter or on the outside of the pot.
4. When the espresso is ready, pour it in the cup carefully without spilling a single drop.
5. Same goes for the sugar.
6. Enjoy the espresso.
I must keep in mind the valuable instruction I received when I started practicing vipassana meditation: just bring the attention back to the breath (espresso) without beating yourself up for having slipped away. Becoming aware and bringing yourself back is the heart of training.
I will let you know how it goes.
lol