I can't say for sure that it was the best coffee experience of my life.
What I can say is that the 101 edition prompt reminded me of a cafe I used to go to.... And the one I stopped going to because the mall it was in became a sad thing, a rather dark place, in a way you could say it was a hovel.
So, because of those good things about Hive, I wondered how is the Grand Avenue Cafe today?
Since the mall is quite close to my second work office, I decided to pay it a visit and try the coffee served there.
I didn't really know if this café still existed, but I took the risk, which, truth be told, wasn't that much.
When I arrived I remembered why I had stopped going there: the basement feeling was very strong.
Little light and gray colors, circulation of people who seemed more busy running errands than enjoying a mall experience.
Long ago this mall had one of the most comfortable movie theaters in the city. I remember with great clarity attending the last showing this movie theater offered. I don't remember the movie, as the overwhelming feeling that I was attending the last showing of the last movie theater open in my city was overwhelming.
But don't be sad, in the years to come other sagas opened and all the streaming breakthroughs came. That not only with just a movie lover like me but it brought new perspectives and new developments in television and series as well as children's cinema which is extraordinary nowadays.
Going back to the mall, I could tell that the cafe would be there, but it was sad, rather gloomy.
However, behind the counter there was light in the form of a smile.
I ordered a cappuccino which used to be quite good there, both for the quality of the coffee and the quality of the milk they used and they accompanied these coffees by tiny cookies that were very tasty.
Her name is Yaxelis, the one with the beautiful smile, I will say, as the ancients used to say. She complained: “It's just that it's so empty here”. Yaxelis understands the spirit of sociability in a café. I instantly adored her.
I am talking about an experience of more than 20 years ago.
However, although the coffee machine was still there and I could almost swear that it was the same one where they made the coffees I once tasted some time ago, it was damaged.
To console myself I ordered a drink that every Venezuelan understands can comfort the spirit: a Martin Polar Malt.
Y sí, resulta que tenías la Malta y fue una de las maltas de temperatura más perfectas que he podido tomarme últimamente.
La sensación de efervescencia dulce y tostada quedó reverberando en mi garganta hasta que subí a mi oficina.
Después de todo a este café le queda algo que ofrecer.
The manager with the beautiful smile told me that the machine was being repaired and would be up and running soon. That she was in charge of making the coffee herself and that she made that coffee with love and with quality beans.
I believed her.
I took my Malt next to a showcase with lots of tiny dolls that they have for sale and that my exacerbated imagination wanted to assume as a living world and a promise.
That café will come back to life.
When some time has passed since this experience I will go again and I will tell you about it.
In the meantime I leave an altar to Malta to grant us that wish.
GOOD NEWS:
My technical work team brought an extraordinary coffee. We drank it in the office, amidst laughter and plans.
