Espressos From Around the World

In the late 1990’s, i drank way too much coffee at work and my blood sugar and mood swings were all over place. Rather than cutting out caffeine altogether, i decided i’d regulate more precisely. Sizes of a cup of coffee were (and still are) all over the place so i decided to limit myself to 1 espresso a day, which i later expanded to 2 per day.

It worked.

I was still on my espresso routine on May 8, 2008 (probably coinciding with my first iPhone) when I was in Paris and took a photo of my espresso. Then, two months later, i was in New York at a Starbucks and took another photo. We had a family trip planned for Greece, and not only did I drink many fantastic espressos, I also took photos of them thinking that it would be a form of a journal. I also recall it was a bit annoying for those in my family who were with me!

Still not knowing what i’d do with these pictures, I decided that i would need to put limits on what i took a photo of, so i created two rules: first, i couldn’t take a photo of the same company (even in a different place which there is currently only one exception) and second it could only be espressos that i bought (a constraint i have relaxed a couple of times, but not often). Later, after realizing that i was taking photos without people in them, I added that rule (and i only once have i violated that rule, because the owner was a good friend and i wanted him in the picture). Good thing I created the rules, else it would be titled “Starbucks and Selfies from Around The World!”.

At that time, there was no Instagram, twitter was just launching, and Facebook wasn’t about food. So, I just kept these photos on my camera. Tumblr had launched about a year earlier, and at some point it started becoming popular as an easy to use blog site so i found myself posting these espressos, including the backlog. I am not sure why i did it, but i am sure that no-body actually visited the site. But i liked it. Espressos From Around The World was born.

Later, when Pinterest came along, i created a Pinboard with the same content. It looked a little nicer than the Tumblr so i kept both of them going. At some point i moved over to instagram, but now it lives on this site. At first i just posted the photos, but beginning in 2012, i began adding the name of the place. Beginning in 2009, Many of the photos are geo-tagged, so with a little research, I’ve gone back and tried to figure out the location and/or name of where the pic came from.

Sometime around 2015, i started drinking coffee again, and the volume of espresso pictures was decreasing. I still drink espressos on occasion, especially when i travel. And, often for the photo!

Enjoy,

Bruce