Coffee, 咖啡, Café, قهوة, Kape, फलियों की शराब;

The old, more festive cups.
Tastes just as good in plain
red cups.

I ordered two cups this morning.  Venti Zebra Mocha, three pumps white mocha, one pump mocha, no whip.  One of them extra hot. Because it was a two-cup kind of day. 

While in college, creating espresso 
beverages became a hobby to me.  In fact, my favorite job - other than teaching - was working as a barista at Starbucks.  You know, that establishment with the famous, or infamous, plain red holiday cups?  That place. Though I preferred the sugared-up beverages back then, such as the mocha frappucino, I began to acquire a taste for coffee.  More specifically, I fell in love with espresso. Since that time I have experimented with all types of coffees and beans, wondering what makes one beverage taste so much better than another.

The coffee beverage my dad would drink was always watered-down with no real flavor, just a slight bitterness. The coffee that my Middle Eastern friends served me was - Wow! There are just no words to describe it! To say the texture was thick and coarse would be an understatement. Strong? Let's just say, I didn't sleep for a week. There were bitter coffees, smooth coffees, nutty and smokey coffees, floral and woody coffees, sweet with a hint of cocoa coffees. Some were served in a cup while others were offered in a shot glass. Certain varieties were served with grounds included, others were brewed and strained. Why were they all so different? It was more than just the way it was served; the difference was in the bean.

It's all about the beans.

Arabica. Washed Arabica coffee from Columbia is supposedly the finest. However, Arabica beans in general are considered superior than other types of beans. Arabica beans are oval instead of round and are larger, sometimes double the size, of other beans (Baskerville).