French Barista, David Mayeres, watches over an iced coffee he’s preparing for me at Escales Café in the French town of Chartres. His attention to this seemingly simple process is like that of a scientist. I don’t think it’s that far from the truth to say that I get as much out of watching David make this particular drink, as I do drinking it.

He meticulously measures out the right amount of coffee, weights it, then carefully adds the water and watches it filter down over the ice. Watching him reminds me of my school chemistry classes. Of course, back in those days, I had no interest in the right measures of anything. Instead, I deliberately mismeasured everything in the hope that somehow I would blow up the school!

David is passionate about coffee and knowledgeable too. I, on the other hand, don’t know much about my favorite drink, and I don’t pretend to either. All I know is that as the summer comes to an end here in France I won’t be ordering many more of these.