Third Wave of Coffee

I love coffee.
I've worked at 2 different coffee shops: Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks.

My history with Starbucks: The first time I saw a Starbucks store was in an airport in Singapore in 2008. I was moving to the US and was traveling with my brother. The iconic logo pulled us in somehow, among many other shops in the airport. The smell was very nice. Very strong. I don't remember what we drank but the experience itself was great.

I was traveling to Seattle. My Mom and Dad lived there. I was moving there and I had no idea of the place whatsoever. When we were above the city before landing, I could see all the greenery. It was just great. The pine trees. It was raining. And it was beautiful. We got out of the airport and met our parents. We went home. Then we started touring the city the next day. I had a jet lag feeling and thought I was still smelling food from the flight and drinks from the airport. Turns out, since Seattle is the Starbuck's home turf, almost each block in downtown had Starbucks and it made me feel like I was still in the airport somehow.

Anyways, Seattle smelled like coffee to me.

It wasn't bad. I started liking the smell more and more.

The first time going to the Starbucks store in Seattle was an amazing experience I had an iced coffee and some muffin. It tasted wonderful.

Fast forward 3 years, I'm living in New Jersey and looking for a job. I applied to work there, but didn't get the job. I worked at Dunkin Donuts. That was when my coffee addiction began. There hasn't been an extended period of time of more than 3 days where I haven't had any coffee(except for a 10-day meditation camp). It's CAFFEINE like NICOTINE and many other INE's . It's addicting.

Fast forward 2014, I am living in Maryland and I get a job at Starbucks. I love it! I drink cofee in the morning, coffee in the evening. I get a free pound of coffee every week.

I have lived this coffee experience. I have a story to tell.

But my coffee story begins way back.

When I was little ,like 7 or 8 years old, I use to go to my dad's office every Saturday. I loved messing with all his coworker's computers and installing all the freeware games that came attached in the magazines. It was an American Office in Nepal. They had a tiny room in the back where hot water was always steaming. There were tea bags and Instant coffees. Very strong. The smell unforgettable. I tried it once and maybe I put too much coffee in water, but it tasted really bitter. Then I never tried it again. But I loved the taste. It's hard to explain.

Anyways, I had left the job as Barista in Starbucks and was going to a college in the East Coast, USA. I had a long semester and had heard about a Meditation retreat that lasted 10 days. One of the location was Seattle. I booked a ticket and Flew There. My American Hometown.

There I roamed the Downtown once again. Smelling the coffee as I walked. The Meditaion retreat was about 100 miles south of the City towards Portland, OR. I went to the retreat. 10 days of silence. No talking to anyone. At the last day, we were free to talk. We were exchanging our stories. Then Carpooling announcement was done. One of the fellow meditator from Japan and I decided to carpool to Oregon with a lady. He told me about this great thing happening in Portland . The Third Wave of Coffee.

When we reached Oregon, I was like I discovered something unexpected. The city reminded me of something. It made me wanna move there. Before I even crossed the bridge that took me to the city.

We stayed in a hostel and went around all the coffee shops. Local Coffee shops. Where they roasted their own beans and they had their own styles of beverages . Starbucks in Portland was almost empty except few busy areas. The Locals all went to the local coffee shops. The Baristas worked in their desired Uniform. Some looked like models about to walk a runway show. The coffee shops looked like art Galleries. The coffee, Lattes pastries, everything tasted amazing. So this is what he meant by the third wave of coffee.