Coffee & little things
A little coffee.
A little pause.
A quiet place for coffee, stories, and the moments in between.
Stay for a little story01 / Coffee story
Every cup has
a backstory.
Every cup of coffee begins with a word, and that word has traveled.
It starts with the Arabic qahwa. As coffee crossed borders, the name went along and changed its accent: kahve in Ottoman Turkish, caffè in Italian, koffie in Dutch. English borrowed from the Dutch and gave us coffee, while French gave us the familiar café.
You may have heard another tale, that the name comes from Kaffa, the highland region of Ethiopia where coffee is said to have first grown. It’s a beautiful story, but historians aren’t convinced. Qahwa was in use centuries before the Kingdom of Kaffa existed, and in its earliest days the word may even have meant wine.
A little further reading: The Oxford Etymologist · Qahwa’s earlier meanings · The Kingdom of Kaffa
So pull up a chair. What’s the story behind your favorite cup?
02 / Time, memory, coffee
A moment worth keeping.
One of my favorite coffee stories isn’t about history at all. In Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold, a little café lets you sit in a moment from the past, but only until your coffee cools. It reminds me to notice the people, conversations, and memories right in front of me while the cup is still warm.
Coffee carries stories across languages, places, and even time. This page is a small table where ours can meet.
03 / A little encouragement
Buy me a coffee.
Leave a little kindness.
If something I’ve made has been useful to you, you can leave a little encouragement here. Pick an amount, add a note if you like, and make it your own.