Stories, Memories with ☕️ Coffee @ 2025

☕️ Over the past year, conferences and travels took me to quite a few places. In almost every city, I tried to carve out some time for a slow walk, specifically to explore coffee shops scattered in different corners. These small adventures gave me opportunities to see cities, neighborhoods, and streets more closely. What I gained was often far more valuable than the coffee itself.

For example, when I was in Busan, I woke up at 6:30 in the morning to meet a friend so we could go drink coffee at Momos. We took a uber there, enjoyed the coffee, and then rushed back by 8:30 to the UIST’25 conference venue so I could join the paper sessions. It sounds a bit intense, but at the time it felt completely worth it.

Another memory comes from Tromsø, on the day of the first snowfall. Sitting by the café window with a close friend, we shared a quiet companionship that needed no words, simply watching people come and go in a small Arctic city. And in Oslo, on my way to Tim Wendelboe, I still remember the air vividly. It was crisp and clean, mixed with the damp scent of golden autumn leaves. That sensory memory somehow became part of my personal romantic impression of the city.

Much later, while drinking coffee in Chengdu, I noticed the Tim Wendelboe logo under a tasting cup. Only then did I realize that I had accidentally walked into a café connected to a World Barista Champion, and that Tim Wendelboe’s roasted beans hold an almost unshakable reputation in the global specialty coffee community. 😲

Because of these stories and encounters along the way, I also had the chance to deepen my own pour-over hobby. Friends kindly brought me beans from all over the world, including Australia, Taiwan, Germany, Panama, Beijing, etc. During my own travels, I also bought many beans. Gradually, I learned to recognize different flavor profiles and characteristics.

At the same time, coffee does tend to increase inflammation for me, which unfortunately means breakouts 🥹 So I try hard to control how much I drink each day. The restraint makes coffee feel even more precious. Many nights, the thing I look forward to most before falling asleep is waking up and brewing coffee again, choosing a dripper and cup that match my mood that day 🤣

However, pour-over coffee can easily become a huge rabbit hole. Many people online carefully calculate parameters such as bean price, grind size, water temperature, dripper shape, and filter structure. But I do not really enjoy approaching coffee that way.

I am starting to think that flavor itself may not be the most important part for me. What matters more are the stories and memories connected to coffee. When friends visit me at campus, I invite them to have a cup that I brew. When I travel with friends, they are willing to walk across cities with me just to find coffee, even when some of them cannot tolerate caffeine very well.

Therefore, coffee somehow becomes a medium. It creates a way for me to build unique memories with friends, strangers, and even the world itself. And that, in itself, feels quite beautiful 💛