Unas preguntas...

As you know we recently left BA after a wonderful 4 weeks there, enjoying the many gastronomic delights the city has to offer while learning more spanish, trying to get Mrs R's foot to heal and playing ever more rabid games of Settlers with Peter and Julia. Well, the others may not have been frothing at the mouth like me. Suffice to say I am now infected and will be purchasing Klaus Teuber's Game of the Year 1995 on our return to Aotearoa!

During our extended stay in the city I had time to consider a few aspects of Argentinian life which differ significantly from ours. The first is their attitude to coffee. In NZ we drink arguably the world's best Black Doctor. Small roasteries, heaps of independent cafes and an enthusiasm for fairly traded beans is a recipe for premium percolation. For this reason, perhaps it is no surprise that we treat its consumption as an end in itself. Takeaway coffee must represent a similar proportion of sales to cups consumed in house.

In Buenos Aires, where coffee appreciation arrived with the influx of praiseworthy Italian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the act of drinking the devil's cup is insignificant in comparison with the process. Almost no one gets their coffee "para llevar" (to go). Their cafes boast career waiters, typically men in their 40s and 50s, whose professionalism and familiarity with their regular clients leaves no room for comparison with the surly teenagers and superficial or apathetic in-between-jobs types so frequent at home. These gents attend you at your table, as ordering at the counter is almost unheard of.

All coffees are served with a petite glass of sparkling water and typically medialunas as well (sweet or savoury croissants). The stage is set for a more elaborate act of consumption, and a greater sense of escape from the bustle of a 13 million citizen city.

People do order coffee alone, perhaps to read the paper or a book, but also to talk with the gentleman waiters I mentioned, more in the way kiwis might with their hairdressers. Overwhelmingly however, the cafe visit is a 2 person affair. Duos of any age
will be locked in animated conversation across their small table, from teenagers to parents to jubilee citizens (transliteral of the spanish for OAP). It is a heartwarming scene to observe, and a great reminder that one is always free to tune down the pace of life, even in the metropolis.

I do not dispute that many New Zealand cafes aim for this kind of atmosphere, and that many kiwis have the same aspirations as their Argentinian counterparts when it comes to keeping up with their friends' lives through the mutual partaking of espresso. In addition many takeaway coffees will only be walked a short distance to a park or waterfront in NZ, to be consumed in an environment perhaps more conducive to real discussion.

Overall, I have resolved to remember the Agentinian approach when living back home. The benefits will be: less coffee drunk, more enjoyment of each cup, less distraction from my drinking partner's words and a heightened sense of occasion in my everyday life. That will be something to savour. Especially the morning after a glorious victory on the Island of Catan!

Mr R