Unlike most kids, I grew up drinking coffee at age two. Well…more like milk with a splash of coffee. Why is a two year old drinking any amount of coffee you ask? Italian culture is your answer! 
The phrase “Coffee Time” means a lot in my family. It begins at 4pm sharp everyday and is a time where my family comes together to chat and you guessed it..drink coffee! It is likely for one to find 2-3 percolators in my house because that is the only way we brew our coffee. It has been this way since before I was born and as a child coffee time became part of my daily routine.
I would always be so excited for coffee time because it meant all of my cousins were coming over and we would go on adventures outside or play some type of game using our imaginations. We called ourselves the “Core 11” because there were 11 of us and we stuck together at all times. There is a range of ages in the bunch from age 26-1, however that is mainly because we have grown in the last seven years, the Core 11 turned into 15! As you might imagine, holidays are insane at the Cavatassi/Monachino household.
We continue coffee time today, however the core 11 are all grown up now. Over the years I’ve realized that not a lot of people are fortunate enough to spend the amount of time with their families that I do with my mine. In fact, I thought everybody spent this amount of time with their families when I was a child.
My grandma, mother and aunts still manage to have their coffee time with the remainder of the cousins that are still around and when everyone reunites, it is just like old times.
Coffee has always held a special place in my heart because of this tradition, wherever coffee is, feels like home.
