Starbucks Should Have Coffee Like This

Image by Zoonabar

This morning we met a couple over breakfast. They were moneyed Americans. The type who live in exclusive communities, drive exclusive cars and stay at exclusive luxury boutique hotels. In “normal” life, it is unlikely that we would have crossed paths, let alone struck up a conversation. But here, in the bowls of world travel, to hear words in a familiar tongue can make instant friends of incidental neighbors.

They were on their return trip from Marrakesh, where their son-in-law is building a golf course in the desert. I try to imagine what this course would look like – an oasis of green amid yellow-white powder. I trust sand traps would be a given obstacle. If your ball went out of bounds, would you have to dig it out of a sand dune? But I digress…

Their assessment of Morocco was such: dusty. A place with inedible food, where even the Arabs speak French. Worth taking a look-see, perhaps, but with a three-day limit on the adventure. I’m not sure what caused such disdain for a country we’ve heard so many wonderful things about. Maybe the boutique hotels weren’t quite a luxurious as they’d have liked. Or the shopping didn’t interest them. Or maybe they were just ready to return to more familiar ground.

Somewhere with less sand and more cafes. “Starbucks should have coffee like this,” mused the wife, sipping her café crème. “But I wonder what they would call it.”