Indigo Traders in the Press

Welcome

World Cup - Editor's Note

Imbibe Magazine

I met Samir Naser while gathering props for the photos to accompany this issue's feature on coffee's role around the world (page 34). When I walked into the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern import shop Indigo Traders and asked for the owner, a voice called from a back room: "In here!" I found Naser - a slim, dark-haired man with graceful posture - standing in front of a hot plate holding an ibrik, the traditional vessel for brewing Turkish coffee (which is actually enjoyed far beyond Turkey's borders). "I'm making coffee, " he said. "Would you like some?"

I watched him carefully heat and pour the thick, potent brew into demitasse cups, which he then delivered to the many customers browsing his shelves. "I'm Palestinian, " he told me in his gentle voice. "All over the Middle East, we offer coffee or tea to our guests. I think people really like it."

The coffee, he explained, came from El Salvador - Naser was friends with a local roaster and had come to love the Salvadoran beans his friend imported. He now sold bags of the coffee in the store. "That's what it's about, sharing something new with people that they can enjoy," he said, nodding to the shop around him as his hands remained busy with a new batch in the ibrik. "I think that's beautiful."

As I stood in a suburban Portland shop sipping Salvadoran coffee brewed in the Turkish style by a Palestinian immigrant, I marveled at how the simple gesture of offering coffee to a stranger could create a network that crossed oceans and continents. Naser was right: It was beautiful. And it's something we all can take a moment to appreciate, every time we bring a cup of coffee to our lips.

Cheers!

Hannah C. Feldman

Senior Editor

Imbibe Magazine

IN THE PRESS