Coffee shops & a sense of home.

There's something familiar to me in all coffee shops, no matter in which part of the world I may be, there's always a feeling of coming home. And I don't mean it in a millenial way - settling my office in one of the tables on the quiet corners and working from my computer for hours on,  instead of  inside a claustrophobic office. A sense of home, that's what I mean. Maybe it's the smell of fresh coffee that reminds me of coming home from school at the end of the afternoon, opening the front door and being inutaded by the smell of my grandma's brewing coffee. It's been a tradition in our family , every single day, around 5pm we gather around the table to have coffee and chat about life, sometimes we complain about things, the job that is stressfull, the things that went wrong, or how we wish someone had done something different - but it's a ritual, and everyone knows it, often friends will come over and ring the bell just in time for the afternoon coffee.  I grew up with this ritual, in a predominantly female family - I saw my grandmother, my mother, my aunts and our female friends always gathering around the table, enjoying a good cup of homemade coffee and having long chats.  

Now that I live far, and travel often I need to keep this part of me alive, this little ritual that brings me back home to the place where I belong. So coffee shops are my second home, and I go often, alone and with friends, to work or to waste time, to write on my journal and observe life. 

I truly believe that coffee brings people together, it's a moment of gathering and sharing. It is an opportunite to get closer and have some quality time with the ones you love, or even alone with yourself. To reflect upon the day, to have ideias, to have intelectually stimulating conversations or sometimes just rant about life. To enjoy the moment, and savor ,slowly every sip of it.