Some of the most memorable moments of my life have centered around coffee (coffee in one of its many forms: black, with cream, espresso, cappuccino, latte–even instant). With that in mind, I’ve decided to write a coffee travelog.

It’s been more than thirty years, but I still recall the bold, smooth, creamy flavor of Milchkaffee (coffee with hot milk) that I enjoyed while studying abroad in Austria. To this day, Austrian coffee remains the gold standard by which I judge all other cups of coffee.

During that same study abroad adventure, I visited the Hofbräuhaus in Münch, Germany. I may have danced on a few tables and made a few other questionable decisions, but it wasn’t because of their famous beer. I don’t like beer. I ordered coffee. 

One of my favorite memories is of meeting a young and (obviously) handsome Italian boy while traveling from Naples to Rome. Honestly, I don’t recall what he looked like, but I do remember that he produced an espresso maker from his backpack and proceeded to make me a steaming cup of espresso right there on the train. (Want to impress a girl? Carry an espresso maker in your backpack!)

The pinnacle of my coffee experience occurred in Rome where, if memory serves, after touring the Colosseum I was delighted to find an espresso stand tucked away in one of its crumbling nooks. I don’t remember the taste of the espresso, but the view of the Colosseum while holding a demitasse full of espresso is forever seared into my memory.

My next coffee adventure happened almost a decade later while visiting Sydney, Austrailia. This was in the years before fancy drinks appeared on every McDonald’s menu. So, what a surprise, when stopping with friends for a quick drink at a McDonalds in the heart of Sydney, I found cappuccinos and lattes on their menu. Putting aside my dislike for fast food, I immediately ordered one. (My first and last McDonald’s cappuccino.)

Another coffee experience, and one I’m not terribly proud of, involved a frozen latte purchased from a Starbucks located right in the center of the Forbidden City. I know, I know… it’s the height of consumerism to put a Starbucks in the Forbidden City. But if you only knew how much I was sweating, and how HUGE the Forbidden City is, and how difficult it is to get a good cup of coffee in China, you would totally understand. I enjoyed that frozen latte. A lot! (And if it makes you feel  better, I believe Starbucks is now “forbidden” in the Forbidden City.)

Then there was that single cup of Kopi Luwak coffee my husband and I shared while on vacation in Big Sur, California. Why one cup, you ask? Well, because Kopi Luwak coffee is supposedly the world’s best coffee, but more important, it was $50 a cup.  According to Wikipedia: “Kopi luwak or civet coffee refers to the beans of coffee berries once they have been eaten and digested by the Asian palm civet.” Yep, we drank coffee made from beans pooped out of an Asian Palm Civet (a creature that looks something between a cat and a monkey). And it was sooooo good!

My final coffee moment (though surely not my last coffee experience in this lifetime) took place in Thailand. My husband and I took a brief detour into the jungle, while on a rafting trip in Khao Lak, and enjoyed a steaming cup of instant coffee served in a bamboo mug. What’s more, I have a video to prove it. (I got a little mixed up with Bistro and Barista… but you’ll  know what I mean.) Cheers!