Ode to Costa Coffee

Little Boy: Excuse me, I happened to be passing and I thought you might like some coffee.
Litte Girl: Oh, that's very nice of you. Thank you. Oh, won't you sit down?
Little Boy: Oh thank you. Cream?
Little Girl: No thank you, I take it black . . .  like my men.
- Most awesome “friend zone” in cinema history- Airplane

Costa Coffee, despite being somewhat overpriced, has become a global phenomenon. After the opening of their first shop in London in 1978, the founders Sergio and Bruno Costa got a foothold in the market and their business blossomed worldwide. The pair now have 1900 stores across the world.

Writers Connect, a creative writing meetup I attend, is held in Manchester Arndale's Costa Coffee in Waterstones. The walls of the coffee shop are adourned with vintage photographs depicting the coffee chain's humble origins. We used these pictures as a prompt for a recent warm-up exercise.

Choosing this picture,

I assumed that Gino and Genarro were the two founders who created the now household-name brand of coffee shops. Apparently not. But I didn't know that when I wrote this poem...

The metal churns and readies the mix

an Italian factory in seventy-six

the coffee beans poured, rich and heavy

in the metal churner, basic, rudimentary

years of work, of farming the land,

now he holds coffee beans in the palm of his hand

the sacks are all bean-filled, most of them man-sized

Gino and Genarro are starting a franchise

he scoops up a handful, breathes in the aroma

the photographer flashes, freezing the moment

these are the beans that will take the world over,

from New York to Lisbon, Sydney to Dover.