Market day

I went to the market today. ‘This would be a day dedicated to making a vegetable stock’, I thought. I intend on making a lima bean and spinach soup in two days you see, and this calls for preprandial planning, my middle name.

I stopped by the coffee grinder’s shop. A lady came in looking for light bulbs, “bulbs! I’m looking for light bulbs!” she cried.

Random.

I told the coffee bean man that I was looking for coffee beans to make a strong coffee with just the right ratio between acidity and bitterness. “you want the Jamaica blend!” (the expensive blend, of course) he exclaimed. “Ok, can I have a 100 grams then?” I asked. “I only turn the machine on for 250 grams”. Oh. That’s quite a lot of coffee, can I taste it first?”

That tipped him of the edge. “you people! (any sentence that starts this way is a clear indication of bitterness, and not from the coffee) You go to the supermarket, you pick up a bag of anything for lots of money and wont spend 30 Shekels for coffee from me without tasting it”.

Did he just say that? Where did that come from?!?

Let us deconstruct:

“you people” tells me that I am not the first person to want to try the coffee, what with arriving at a specialist coffee shop and all.

You’d think it was run by a coffee fanatic enthusiastic about his high quality ingredients, keen on sharing them with the world. You’d think he’d have coffee brewing on premise. You’d think he’d be shaking from a caffeine OD. Alas, no.

Then there was the supermarket comment. A strange one considering I am not at a supermarket, but at the market. This is no coincidence but a clear statement of intentions; This is where I come to buy 4 avocados and get one for free, and where I can try an orange segment before I buy a kilo. This is not a supermarket.

So I walked off with a smile and we both knew it was all over. He wasn’t getting my money and I wasn’t getting coffee.

The moral of the story? I still need to find where the best place to buy coffee is. Until then I can justify cafes.