The Espressos From Around The World Story
In the late 1990’s, i drank way too much coffee at work and my blood sugar and mood swings were all over place. Rather than cutting out caffeine altogether, i decided i’d regulate more precisely. Sizes of a cup of coffee were (and still are) all over the place so i decided to limit myself to 1 espresso a day, which i later expanded to 2 per day.
It worked.
I was still on my espresso routine on May 8, 2008 (probably coinciding with my first iPhone) when I was in Paris and took a photo of my espresso. Then, two months later, i was in New York at a Starbucks and took another photo. We had a family trip planned for Greece, and not only did I drink many fantastic espressos, I also took photos of them thinking that it would be a form of a journal. I also recall it was a bit annoying for those in my family who were with me!
Still not knowing what i’d do with these pictures, I decided that i would need to put limits on what i took a photo of, so i created two rules: first, i couldn’t take a photo of the same company (even in a different place which there is currently only one exception) and second it could only be espressos that i bought (a constraint i have relaxed a couple of times, but not often). Later, after realizing that i was taking photos without people in them, I added that rule (and i only once have i violated that rule, because the owner was a good friend and i wanted him in the picture). Good thing I created the rules, else it would be a titled “Starbucks and Selfies from Around The World!”.
At that time, there was no Instagram, twitter was just launching, and Facebook wasn’t about food. So, I just kept these photos on my camera. Tumblr had launched about a year earlier, and at some point it started becoming popular as an easy to use blog site so i found myself posting these espressos, including the backlog. I am not sure why i did it, but i am sure that no-body actually visited the site. But i liked it. Espressos From Around The World was born.
Later, when Pinterest came along, i created a Pinboard with the same content. It looked a little nicer than the Tumblr so i kept both of them going. And now it lives on this site, along with Instagram. At first i just posted the photos, but beginning in 2012, i began adding the name of the place. Beginning in 2009, Many of the photos are geo-tagged, so with a little research, I’ve gone back and tried to figure out the location and/or name of where the pic came from..
Sometime around 2015, i started drinking coffee again, and the volume of espresso pictures was decreasing. I still drink espressos on occasion, especially when i travel. And, often for the photo!
Enjoy,
Bruce