coffee snob, and rightly so

My last vacation I went to Sana’a again. At that point I still didn’t have residency or work permits for my passport so I couldn’t leave the country. I happened upon a place called Coffee Trader. It’s the new “Oasis of Tranquility”. That’s pretty much all I did on my vacay. I went there every single day, I had my own spot outside under a big umbrella, monopolizing an entire area near lush flowers and shrubberies. After the second day they knew my order (giant, bucket o’ black coffee, and keep those refills coming) it was fantastically good- clearly being the first real coffee I’ve had in almost four months. I get the occasional Turkish coffee, or the special ginger coffee you drink at qat chews, but mostly here “coffee” means Nescafe. My first week in Yemen I was fooled in that regards on multiple occasions. The host/hostess would offer coffee and I was all YEAH! Yes please! Coffee? Really? Thanks! And then I would have a mighty battle masking my crushing disappointment when I realized they just meant Nescafe. I held out at first- refusing to buy or imbibe in the gritty, noxious, instant brew. Please, I have some standards I will not sink below. I drank soooo much tea. The tea, called “shay” is pretty awesome. Also I’m a dang expert at making it. It comes in two forms, “shay haleeb” tea with milk, or “shay ahmar” red tea. Both are super delicious, served boiling-lava hot in handle-less cups (Handle! Handle! Handle!) with cardamom, mint, and LOADED with sugar. That’s finally what made me switch to Nescafe, all the dang sugar I was ingesting day after day. I already talked about the Yemen15…
So I reacted with surprise as much as horror yesterday when after a big gulp of black Nescafe, I gave a deep, contented sigh and smacked my lips appreciatively. WHAT? I have always been considered a coffee snob-purist. Yemen, you’ve done it again! and again and again!