My daily pamper
In general, the human being is a creature of habits, of routines. Of course there are plenty of exceptions to this rule, but the average person is very attached to repeating the same actions on a daily basis.
Many times are a consequence of an obligation or just because of time efficiency. This would not be a problem at all in case those actions are bringing you joy and pleasure to your soul, helping to your overall well-being; and amongst several, I specifically have one as well… which involves coffee (what else?).
Despite labor or free days, and no matter the time I wake up, since a while I incorporated a new habit as first-thing to do as soon as I get up of bed: this is turning my espresso machine on. As it is a semi-automatic home line of a professional device, it needs around 20-30 minutes to fully heat up and reach the desired pressure levels to extract a proper coffee. For me, this works perfectly because I never tend to drink my coffee immediately because I like to naturally wake up (in those lucky cases on which my kids don´t kick me out of bed!), so first I prepare my breakfast consisting of a bowl with fruits and yogurt; super healthy breakfast with banana, strawberries, kiwi, peers or peach, grapes, chia seeds and gojis.
The preparation of mine and my kids´ to help my wife, and the lovely moment of having breakfast altogether at the same time, take the perfect amount of time for my second step of the breakfast, the glorious ritual of opening the coffee pack and smelling the aroma of the beans inside (setting up the mood!), listening to the grinder making its work and releasing even stronger aroma (did you know that the main coffee smell we all love comes mainly from the grinding itself?), tamping the double shot portafilter, introducing it into the shower, pulling the handle up to start the pre-infusion… and the magic starts: watching how the extraction is done literally every single time I brew my coffee to make sure I was adjusting the grinder correctly according to the temperature and humidity of the day (oh, yes… this also plays an important role on the final result) and getting my 50ml of espresso in 25-30´´. To finalize, I froth the milk to my desired temperature and silkiness to end up pouring it in my cup and creating a well-deserved cappuccino for my soul. Sometimes with latte art; sometimes following a classical Italian style with the foamy circle. And the best: giving the first sip to it, connecting myself with the specific origin I am having that day.
You see? I definitely don´t need any special thing to feel happy or to start my day in a positive way (ok, yes… it already starts perfectly by being able to kiss my little ones and sharing every morning with them, but you know what I mean). Just the habit of having a cup of cappuccino that I enjoy tremendously. What is your repetitive action that pampers your soul? Feel free to share it in the comments!