My father-in-law was an army colonel who participated in the Ho Chi Minh campaign to liberate the South. When the country was unified, he returned to Hanoi to reunite with his family.
My husband often told me that in the years after 1975, every Sunday morning, as soon as he woke up, he could smell the fragrant aroma of filtered coffee mixed with the smoke of silver-packet Dien Bien cigarettes.
He liked to drink coffee, so she searched for places that hung signs saying "Roasted coffee", which was quite rare at that time, and only dared to buy 100g at a time, and only drank it on Sunday mornings. The aluminum filter was ugly and deformed, but it didn't matter. Scooping 2 small spoons of roasted coffee powder and pouring in freshly boiled water from the stove, each movement had to be skillful, precise, and not spilling, it was also an elegant pleasure on a weekend morning.
During the subsidy period, when everything was lacking, the fragrant smell of filter coffee was so luxurious. It engraved in the whole family's memory the image of a warm, happy, peaceful family, after the years of fierce war and the absence of the father. Sunday would be the main day for "increasing production", the whole family would gather to weave wool, seal envelopes, peel peanuts, in an area of nearly twenty square meters filled with the fragrant smell of coffee...
When I gave birth to my first child, my grandfather was willing to quit smoking so as not to affect his grandchildren, but he still maintained his habit of drinking coffee. As he got older, he preferred instant coffee, any brand, but his favorite was VinaCafe's milk coffee. Every morning, he would take a packet, mix it with hot water, enjoy it, and sip it with a few newspapers.
He has just passed away. My mind is still filled with good memories of him. I remember when he woke up early to prepare Chinese medicine for me to take to work. I remember when he took my motorbike from me and helped me push it up the hill into the house so it wouldn't get too heavy. I remember his hand on my forehead, using qigong to cure my headache. And I remember most of all the image of him every morning at the round table stirring a cup of coffee, so peaceful and serene.
(Entry to the contest "Impressions of Vietnamese coffee and tea" under the program "Honoring Vietnamese coffee and tea" for the 2nd time, 2024 organized by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper).
Graphics: CHI PHAN
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