“Who was the first person to serve you coffee?”

Coffee expert and journalist Sabrina Cuculiansky always poses that question when trying to explain the evolution of coffee drinking in Argentina. 

Chances are, most people will answer they had their café con leche when they were kids, at home, either for breakfast or an afterschool merienda. 

“For us Argentines, ‘coffee’ means a lot more than just the drink itself,” Cuculiansky tells the Herald. 

An experienced gastronomic journalist who became a spearhead for coffee culture in Argentina, Cuculiansky is getting ready for Exigí Buen Café, the coffee fair she created more than a decade ago and will have its 13th edition this weekend at La Rural. 

The event will gather 100 exhibitors from four continents, more than 1,500 baristas, coffee producers from Latin America and Africa, and host national compeitions, workshops, conferences and tastings.

In Argentina, the single act of having a cup of coffee can mean many different things. It can be taking a pause from a busy day for a quick cup of coffee (tomar un cafecito) or getting together with friends (juntarse a tomar un café). It can also be a synonym for a work meeting— as in a journalist “sitting down for coffee”........

© Buenos Aires Herald