My lovely Dad, Conor, got to sample a cinnamon swirl at The Garden Cafe in Mallow on the 23rd of January 2025 and thoroughly enjoyed it. He was usually a coffee man when we were out but that day he had tea. It was the morning of the day before the big storm Éowyn was to hit Ireland and cause chaos into the following days. Sadly he passed away a week later and we did not get to return there together again. The Garden cafe has a very special place for me at the moment as it was our last outing together.
Interestingly the history of cinnamon in Europe began 2000 years ago in Rome when Roman traders had brought it back from Sri Lanka via the silk road. My father was christened Cornelius who in the bible was the first Roman soldier / centurion to be baptised. We can find connections in everything – the spice, the origin, the name – if we look and at times of loss we look harder than ever and it brings comfort, creates a tapestry of sorts for us.
My dad’s coffee of choice was usually a cappuccino or as he used to say to me ‘I’ll have a small monk please.’ Dad had a quirky sense of humour and loved a pun and a joke. I always thought the name cappuccino was because of the colouring of the capuchin monks robes however on looking it up online just now I’m seeing…… ‘the name “cappuccino” comes from the Italian word “cappuccio,” literally the hood or hat. Why this name? According to the legend, the first to “invent” this beverage was a friar of the Capuchin order, Marco da Aviano, sent in 1683 by the Pope in Vienna.’
So there you go, a little bit of trivia to accompany your next coffee. Dad would have liked that and most likely already knew it.
‘Til next time, x Sheila.
