The German Coffee Experience

If you know me well, you know I have oscillating opinions about coffee. As in, I say I like a nice iced coffee {with milk and caramel} from Starbucks after a late night, but I also have really bad withdrawal symptoms as the caffeine abandons me a few hours later. Basically, I avoid having a regular dependence on coffee and try to keep myself to one a week, two in emergencies. And I also steer clear of situations that involve straight coffee. Why? I don't like the taste, and every time I pour in my desired amount of cream {or, better yet, milk} to balance it out, I get comments like, "Oh, would you like some coffee with your milk, Melody?" So Starbucks it is; I don't even know how to operate a coffee pot.

However, as several of us have noted, post-lunch coffee is practically mandatory here. I do have the option of tea {and some of my labmates are quite particular about their tea, which results in excellence}, but I've had several late nights recently that also demanded an afternoon caffeine boost {and Germans don't like black tea, according to our visitor from the UK}. I slowly began to succumb to the coffee. Besides, we had a cappuccino machine {cappuccino is the only button I know how to use because, um, the machine also speaks German}. Who wouldn't want to use that?

As I observed further--one does a lot of observing when German is spoken over one's head--I noticed that the Right-Hand Man* added a significant amount of milk to his cappuccino. Something I heard in German class was then verified when I went to a convenience store at the Hauptbahnhof: the existence of milchkaffee. Milk coffee. {I ordered coffee in order to be welcome to sit at a table and journal. Tables at which to sit are rare here unless you are at a cafe or other food-oriented establishment.}

It is socially acceptable here to have some coffee with your milk.

Not only this, but the coffee tastes better here. I thought this was only my own theory {it did not seem as bitter}, but then the Opinionated Romanian** informed me of the difference between our coffee and the coffee he had experienced in the Western Hemisphere. "Have you smelled the bag of coffee beans when you open it?" he asked me.

"No. I haven't opened it."

So later, when we had an afternoon coffee break and waited for solution to heat onto glass, he offered me a whiff of the coffee. And yes, it smelled significantly different and significantly amazing. I'm not just saying that. It smelled like an actual plant, like something that grew out of the earth instead of being chemically enhanced.

I've already realized that the German Coffee Experience is something I'm going to miss when I return to Texas. Finding coffee this good is going to be expensive. And even when I find it, I'll once again be forced to answer the question, "Would you like some coffee with your milk?"

I am using nicknames for everyone in my lab to avoid privacy conflicts. Not that there are any, but I'd like to err on the side of caution. {This is also the reason I have not posted much about my specific research, although one of our papers was recently accepted and revealed to the world our work in a particular field.}

* The Right-Hand Man is a PHD student who is in my chain of command. He's very chill and quiet--we do not talk much other than physics--but I like to work with him because he allows me to join the scientific rhythm of whatever it is we're doing.

** The Opinionated Romanian is a bachelor student with whom I work frequently. He is Romanian in origin but German in citizenship, has opinions on everything {especially all things German}, and does not mind sharing...or answering all my questions.

To everyone who is not familiar with the physics world and is surprised at my disproportionate mention of male labmates...welcome to physics. Texas or Germany, it doesn't change the fact that girls are very much in the minority {but always, in my experience, well-treated}.