Like butter to jelly, or the moon to the sun, café orders have their own matches too! And today, I will be pairing some renowned Library Café orders with the most fitting book.
To start off, a plain espresso would undeniably have to go with Camus’ The Stranger. Not only is espresso the French go-to coffee (especially for Camus), but both are classy, kind of bitter and only for the strong to take (or read).
Shakespearean plays however, would match to different varieties of lattes. For instance, an iced latte would be Hamlet, mainstream but essential for every coffee/book shop to have nonetheless. A hot latte however would be something more like a Romeo and Juliet sort of play: outdated for some, but beloved by others.
Moving onto sweeter beverages, a hot and overfilled-with-marshmallows chocolate would be the perfect match for White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Since this is the book that pretty much invented trust issues, you might as well sweeten it up.
Any kind of herbal tea would have to undoubtedly go with Circe, by Madeline Miller. A solitary witch who isolated herself in an Italian-Greekish mythological island? There is no other way to go.
Smoothies however, would be the perfect drink if you find yourself in the engaging, yet tragic, experience of reading The Song of Achilles. Bonus points if your smoothie contains anything like figs, grapes, peaches, mandarins, pomegranates—or any sort of Mediterranean fruits.
Matcha tea is a hard one to categorise. But if I had to assign it a book, it would most likely be Pride and Prejudice. It is a seemingly sweet and innocent book, even classified as a romance by many. However, if you dig underneath the surface, you will realise Austen is not trying to display a love story, but rather social criticism. As universally adored as Mr Darcy might be, his story with Elizabeth subtly hides a far more sour taste, just like matcha (if not properly prepared).
Transitioning to actual solid food, some straightforward cake-book matching would be a red velvet cake with Dracula by Bram Stoker. You know: blood, red, it just makes sense. Lemon drizzle would however be 1984 by George Orwell, something you only get the full experience of when eaten with patience and consciousness. As the cherry on top, Kafka’s The Metamorphosis would be coffee cake, an order that might not initially be a people’s favourite, but that everyone ends up falling for.
Photo by Timothy Barlin on Unsplash