I cannot remember the first time I tasted coffee, but my impression must have been something like "yuk". Fastforward to my mid twenties, upon moving to Italy, I did start to enjoy a capuccino once every while. A few years later, back in my home country and with a sense of nostalgia for Italy, armed with a moka pot and steaming milk (alternatives) I tried to recreate the perfect cappucino at home. I still could not understand how anyone would want to drink coffee pure.
In my mid thirsties I had an opportunity to work in Saudi Arabia for 2 years. The first cultural shock was discovering "Arabic coffee": very different from any coffee experience I had ever had in Europe. Not that it became my beverage of choice, but I did enjoy it with the dates, they usually serve it with. The building I worked in, was named after Ibn Sina, or Avicenna as he is known in Europe. A heavy weight in philosophy and mecidine, and one of the first to note down the potential health benifits of coffee.
During this time, I was suffering from the desert climate. One of the things I tried to improve my condition was to quit milk. As a consequence, I moved from ordering cappucino's to espresso's at the Joffrey's bar housed in the same building. Joffrey's did help me in this transition, as they had a nice selection of different beans to choose from: a combination of single origins or flavoured coffees (infused with chocolate or vanilla). I would not advocate on these kind of infusions nowadays, but for me it was a stepping stone in learning to appreciate espresso.
Back in Europe, and with no Joffrey's around the corner, I ordered a Delonghi Dedica (DD) and thereby officialy started my journey as a home barista. Trying to master the art of espresso on a DD is a challenge, and the youtube algorithm brought me to very different conclusions, including that I had to roast my own beans.
As a philosopher, I side with Socrates. I know my limitations: 1) I cannot drink too much coffee a day to speed up my learning process 2) although my father is a professional sommelier, what are the chances I have the same gift? Hence my insight: I need the help of others, preferably people on a similar type of journey, so we can share each other's experiences and use that to get a better result in our own cup. If you are up for this challenge, please join us now.