The 'to-go' Morning Ritual

My mornings resemble any which one in New York City. I scramble out of bed, woof down a piece of fruit on my five block walk to the Dorrego stop of the B subte (subway) line and try to keep cool on a muggy ride to downtown Buenos Aires. I walk a couple of blocks down Corrientes, an avenue full of theaters, restuarants, and bookshops, similar albeit not as glitzy as Times Square, and make a turn on Talcahuano.

I am at work by 8am - one or two hours earlier than when the typical work day begins here. Usually getting very little shut eye on any given night, I am a night owl by nature, the café con leche (or latte) waiting for me at a local resto-bar (think diner) named El Bautista consoles me. For 7 pesos or $1.75 every morning, I get a rich cup of espresso and frothy steamed milk, that unlike the coffee they serve at your average resto bar, is actually good. They serve La Virgina´s, a tea and coffee brand in Argentina, new signature line of espresso made particularly for resto-bars.

Required to be on call at my desk, I take my cup of joe to go every morning. This means that around 8 or 9 in the morning, you can usually spot me balancing a large tea cup, saucer, and spoon, intent on not spilling any, as I make my way around the corner and to the second floor of my building. I am pretty sure I have warranted some curious stares, but I never care too much as I concentrate on keeping my cup intact.

Living alone and making more thoughtful choices about the food I eat, I often ponder about that old saying: you are what you eat. But what's more is: you are what you eat and how you eat it. Typically only larger coffee chains, such as Café Martinez or Havanna offer to-go coffee options, which are usually served in somewhat outdated stayrofoam cups. And of course, the notorious Starbucks has made its way down here as well, serving their drinks in recycable materials. But in many traditional café settings, the act of taking your coffee to-go because you can't drink it on the spot is somewhat obscure.

During my first stay in Buenos Aires, I was immediately attracted to its coffee culture, and the buzz that came with it, realizing only later that I was drinking espresso-based drinks, not drip coffee. Going to a café is usually a wonderful pick-me-up. They serve you whatever you asked for, plus a small glass of carbonated water, and a little nom-nom, like small cookies or an alfajor. It is not far fetched, I think, for people to simply take a break from their work day to sip on a freshly made cortado, or espresso with a touch of creamy milk.

Buenos Aires is certainly a hustle and bustle kind of city. However, like many cities at a stage or another of modernization, you can feel a pull between time-honored traditions and the demands of a new society. The city's obvious sanitation problems, it is not uncommon for garbage mounds to form on street corners and along avenues depending on the day and time, indicates a need to reconsider certain aspects of fast culture. This sentiment, as times continue to change and more countries join the pack of modernized nations, is pretty global and perhaps at the heart of our current struggle with climate change. It's a matter of our way of life.