It is rather pointless to begin with a description of the importance of coffee in our lives considering that you are reading a newspaper about coffee in a cafe that uses coffee from its own coffee bean roastery. And if I can use a variation of the word coffee five times in one sentence (and still make sense of it), then it's equally pointless to explain why directors and screenwriters have featured it in some of the most memorable scenes from their movies or series. So we'll get right into the bread...or the coffee (excuse the cliché, I couldn't help myself).
If we don't remember the classic Breakfast at Tiffany's in its entirety, we will certainly never forget Audrey Hepburn in the iconic opening scene where she gets out of a taxi and walks with small but sure steps towards the eponymous store. As he examines with a lustful gaze (I would say greedily, but I do not wish to tarnish such a sensitive character with such adjectives) the jewels in the luxuriant display case, he eats a croissant and drinks his coffee.
The portrayal of Holly Golightly, a flawlessly feminine café society girl (who lives off the money of rich older men - but let's ignore that detail), began when she sipped lightly from her flirty mug of coffee. The rest of the film builds on this first description of a modern young lady by placing her in the midst of the mundane population of New York coffee shops.
Long story short: Audrey Hepburn, as Holly Golightly, drinks coffee at the beginning of the movie. Coffee is drunk in cafes. Cafes were and are a culture. The film is about Holly Golightly in that culture. Everything is connected. Somewhat.
But let's leave the romance and grandeur of bygone times aside and move on to, let's say, more creative uses of the drink. We jump to the year 1995, to Quentin Tarantino. We all know him: he's the guy who can make the most aesthetic scenes, even though he puts them in the most disgusting contexts. Graceful blondes scalping and gouging out eyes without blinking, American soldiers in lush forests scalping Nazis... I'm starting to see a pattern so I'll let you fill in the description yourself, anyway I think you've already pretty much guessed what's going to happen when his characters drink gourmet coffee.
So we jump to Quentin Tarantino as actor and director in Pulp Fiction. We're in Jimmie's (Tarantino) kitchen, serving Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson), both with considerable amounts of blood on their shirts and suits, coffee. Ca rãspuns la exclamația faimoasã a lui Jules cã ”this is some serious gourmet shit”, Jimmie rãspunde ”I don't need you to tell me how fucking good my coffee is, okay? I'm the one who buys it. I know how good it is. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff because when I drink it I want to taste it. But you know what's on my mind right now? It AIN'T the coffee in my kitchen, it's the dead nigger in my garage."
Long story short: Even the racist friends of some gangsters full of anyone's blood but their own appreciate a quality blend.
Irina's description: Irina's greatest achievement was when she self-diagnosed herself with an adult form of ADHD that she insists is only her. Which is why the sentence above is also her description.
This is an excerpt from the Daily Cup newspaper - winter edition
