, March 29, 2024

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Running Out of Coffee during Early Covid


  •   2 min reads
Running Out of Coffee during Early Covid

Coffee aficionados will understand the panic. You could say it is like a smoker not having cigarettes -- for a month.

Pandemic Tales entry Sunday, March 29, 2020

A QUARANTINE WITHOUT GOOD COFFEE loomed like a possibility; this nightmare might just become more nightmarish. In this house, there are three grownups, all heavy users of the stimulant, with tastebuds accustomed to coffee from freshly ground. I called Lazada and the others promising to deliver, and all they could do was promise to deliver coffee beans a month from today.

No flights, no cargo.

One month. Uh oh.

Coffee aficionados will understand the panic. You could say it is like a smoker not having cigarettes -- for a month. It appeared that for the family to survive, we had to reduce consumption, and so I stood up and announced to the pretty lady and to son that I was not going to drink coffee so they could enjoy whatever was left.

Naks.

(This was said with bravado, but I was thinking I would try to go through the tea accumulated through the ages and now growing mold somewhere in our cupboards).

This morning, I found Nescafe 3-in-1 sachets in one of the drawers, and I thought that, maybe, this old name could be an acceptable alternative.

OK. That kind of hope was silly: we all know that if there's 'instant' on the label, there is compromise.

I had already downed four cups, each time beseeching it to act like coffee, to live up to its name, when Gema, CEO of Estima, told me that she was sending a pack she had found, slightly past its expiration date, and packs of barako from Suzi Entrata, a dear friend who was alarmed, aghast even, when she heard that I was down to imbibing Nescafe 3-in-1.

Gema's husband, John, was on his way out because they had donated disinfectant chambers to the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, which meant he could drop off the precious cargo.

So we had coffee,  from beans freshly ground, creamy even without cream, with muscovado, piping hot, and in a hefty mug.

God is good, equanimity is maintained, everything is alright with the world. -VRP


If you have a terrific pandemic story, send it to ourbrewphil@gmail.com. Accompany it with the relevant photographs. If it pleases the editors, Our Brew will publish it.


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