Rob the genius barista part I

I have a bag of coffee beans I carried all the way from Harrisonburg, but no coffeemaker . . . or stovetop, or french press to make it with. I do have a whole lot of tea from China. There's Tie GuanYin (a type of oolong tea) and Pu'er, both some of the top teas in China, both gifted to me by amazing friends in amazing quantities before I left.

Apparently Sydney used to be mainly a tea-drinking place, though coffee has certainly found an important place. That's always one of the first things that I notice when I fly from China into a "Western" country. Walking out into the airport terminal the smell of coffee is so strong (and so nice). Here in Sydney cappuccinos, lattes, long blacks (what I would call an Americano), and flat whites (what I would call a very low-froth latte) are everywhere . . . and they pretty much start around $3.50. So until we buy a french press or repurpose an old sock (Jeanette's trick) for coffee making, we're doing tea.

But then there are times when you've been out offering resumes to every cafe and bakery on the street, and it's windy, and Justin will be off work in 45 minutes and could just slip over to meet you for the happy hour at the bar on the corner. Cold and windy.

And then I saw a sign for $2 drip coffee, which I actually really like, sometimes, so I walked in to the tiniest, simplest of cafes for a humble cup of gas-station-style coffee. As such, the coffee was black and oil-thick, and obviously had been sitting there for a few hours. The very friendly boy behind the counter took pity and let me "tip a bit out" so I could fit more milk in. He was jumping around and drumming on the counter and just so full of energy I asked if he'd had a lot of coffee that day. "I've had a few," he said. "I'm feeling so musical today."

A woman in her early forties maybe, dressed for business, came for a latte. He asked if she was having a good day. It was alright, she laughed. And you? "Pretty good," he said, "nothing exciting has happened yet today. . . but it could, you know? That's how life is. Unexpected things are always popping up. Life is an adventure." Did he actually say that? Something like that. This was the kind of guy who said things that other people might sound really stupid saying. Somehow it worked for him. Especially after he sat down at the piano. Then we really started to listen.