Jacob F.
Yelp
I roll into this place about ten o'clock on a Tuesday. It's been raining and Hudson is chilly. I've got a bright red Yokosuka jumper on that's already drawn compliments today, from a vet's widow. I keep it on, even though the sun's starting to come out. You don't carry a jacket like this around. You wear it.
I never order off the menu at coffee places. I'm sorry. I can't measure coffee in ounces. Who measures coffee in ounces? I order a single-shot dry cappuccino. The barista at the till doesn't know what this is, but the other one does. I look back at the girl ringing me up. She's got a leaf pin on her apron. It looks familiar. I ask what it is. It's a Lothlorien pin, from the The Lord of the Rings films. I remember now, and in my best Viggo Mortensen voice, I say, "The leaves of Lothlorien do not idly fall." She pretends to be impressed.
I tell her I remember seeing those movies when they came out in the theater. I saw the first one on Guam, at the Micronesia Mall, when I was in high school, with a half-Korean girlfriend that didn't last the month. I know this makes me old. I feel old. I am old. I'm so old, now. I wish I were the exact same age as this barista, but it's been so long that it's hard for me to believe I ever was. Perhaps I never will be, again.
The coffee comes in a ceramic mug that one might describe as "artisanal." It is so flavorful. It doesn't taste like a dark roast to me, which is a welcome surprise. I get little notes of chocolate--it tastes like something delicious I would want to chew for a while before swallowing, something I'd like to savor longer. I can't keep drinking these, one after the other, or my old heart will start beating too fast. I just get the one, and it turns into a memory before I can even take a picture, another memory that will probably fade away even before the memories of Guam, of a childhood spent abroad, of summer love and loss.
I can see the river from my booth. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable. The coffee is excellent. Get coffee here if you're ever in Hudson.