Personal assistants & the ritual of coffee
Like millions and millions worldwide, I love coffee. I can't live without it. I don't fancy myself a connoisseur or anything like that, but I love a really great cup of coffee. When I was a personal assistant, especially, I couldn't do without it. All of the assistants I know live on coffee like it's their blood.
Should personal assistants have to go on coffee runs?
Most assistants don't mind getting coffee
In this day and age, I know this subject can be a bit of a sore spot for some. In fact, I recently read an article about whether or not Executive Assistants should have to fetch coffee. I wholeheartedly understand both sides of the argument.
It's a well-known fact that most assistants are female, and if they have a male boss, I do understand the dilemma. In a corporate environment, it certainly could be taboo if a male executive asked his female assistant to go get coffee for him. But, absolutely, in the world of PAs, getting coffee is part and parcel of the job -- male or female, corporate environment or not.
Most high-net-worth VIPs that hire me to find personal assistants for them are CEOs, Hollywood celebrities and other types of industry moguls. They are usually worth at least $10,000,000. So, they are hiring personal assistants to run the hinds of errands that they don't want to do, and that includes running to the local Starbucks to get a coffee; and they are always happy to buy one for the assistant, too.
It's a well-known fact that most assistants are female, and if they have a male boss, I do understand the dilemma. In a corporate environment, it certainly could be taboo if a male executive asked his female assistant to go get coffee for him. But, absolutely, in the world of PAs, getting coffee is part and parcel of the job -- male or female, corporate environment or not.
Most high-net-worth VIPs that hire me to find personal assistants for them are CEOs, Hollywood celebrities and other types of industry moguls. They are usually worth at least $10,000,000. So, they are hiring personal assistants to run the hinds of errands that they don't want to do, and that includes running to the local Starbucks to get a coffee; and they are always happy to buy one for the assistant, too.
What's the most expensive coffee in the world?
When I was a personal assistant for the Royal Saudi Family, I went on plenty of coffee runs. It was during those years that I learned about the world's most expensive coffee: Cat Poop Coffee, also called Kopi Luwak or civet coffee. Try not to gag, but this coffee can be as expensive as $100 a cup.
Basically, these cute little cat-like creatures in Indonesia eat the coffee cherries, digest them, and then poop them out. The coffee cherries are only partially digested, then workers pick the beans out of the droppings and then process it for sale. I did try it once, and it was just ok for me. I've also tried $5000 bottles of wine, and it wasn't so special for me either.
Basically, these cute little cat-like creatures in Indonesia eat the coffee cherries, digest them, and then poop them out. The coffee cherries are only partially digested, then workers pick the beans out of the droppings and then process it for sale. I did try it once, and it was just ok for me. I've also tried $5000 bottles of wine, and it wasn't so special for me either.
The oldest coffee in the world: An assistant's dream
The Civet coffee isn't such a big deal for me, but the ancient tradition of the Ethiopian coffee ceremony is. In the video below, it shows the ancient tradition of coffee. And, if you didn't know, coffee was in fact "discovered" or "invented" in Ethiopia. Certainly, it was the Italians that started to commercialize it for the masses, but they didn't "discover" it any more than Marco Polo discovered noodles in China.
