The Emotional Burden And Transcendence of Coffee Fortune
Exactly a year ago, I began to experience a shift in my title as a coffee ground fortune reader.
It all started while attending a performance of Bono at the Beacon Theater in New York City April 22nd of 2023.
With a little storytelling, acting, and stripped down musical arrangements of U2 songs that wove through an autobiographical recounting of his life story — Bono rendered me speechless. So much that I attended seven additional shows despite the generous ticket prices.
To this day, those shows have been the greatest education in performance I ever witnessed as a coffee fortune teller. Thank you Bono. You love your audience as I do too.
Since then, I decided to dissociate myself from being another run of the mill psychic in New York City.
As it stands today, “Turkish Coffee Room” is an otherworldly experience that is part theater, magic, music, and astrology all blended together through the medium of everyone’s favorite morning brew — coffee.
Turkish coffee to be specific.
Guests wonder whether what they’re paying for is a show, a ceremony, or a fortune — and the answer is quite simply, all of the above.
But what sets “Turkish Coffee Room” apart is that it takes place out of my living room. I deliver an experience — for all 8 guests in attendance — that’s intimate, eye-opening, and riveting as the ones I witnessed of Bono at the Beacon Theater.
I want to bring your future to life!
Unfortunately, performing in such a vulnerably intimate environment does have its downside.
Criticism hurts a lot more.
But for six years, I have witnessed the collective transcendence of Turkish Coffee Room’s conjuring. The experience is akin to swimming in the milky way with the Gods. To cease operations, because I can’t handle the heat, would be a shame.
It is a catch 20-20.
And to complicate matters further, as my wildly colorful fortune reading style has evolved, so has the malevolence of my detractors.
But to be fair, many deem the current iteration of “Turkish Coffee Room” as the greatest thing they’ve ever experienced in New York City. Shortly after yesterday’s ceremony, a guest texted me to say that I was — apparently — doing “doing great things for my country”.
That’s a very nice thing to say! I must remind myself of these adulations on a daily basis.
I really, really need to.
But when someone requests for a refund, right after I handed their friend $40 out of pocket as a symbolic gesture of goodwill during our ceremony, my faith in humanity does rattle a short smidgen.
I mean… the audacity.
Or when another guest, unable to attend a ceremony, leaves a 1-star review with just the words “unkind person” — my heart shatters.
Personally, the worst offender is when a guest becomes offended on behalf of another.
A good example of this can be found in the comment section of my previous blog post on the benefits of customers crying during “Turkish Coffee Room”.
All of these instances have occurred in the last month.
When I started my business six years ago, I would seldom receive backlash. This is true. Perhaps from a rooted fear within others to critique another culture’s tradition. Unknowingly, I may have benefitted from this phenomena. And as a result, not worry about upset customers.
But this is just a hot take.
One thing is for certain though, once I began distilling Turkish culture in harmony with my own colorful persona, the world has become more at ease in dispensing vitriol towards my innovative approach to coffee ground reading.
Perhaps this is why I feel so vulnerable. But the genie is out of the bottle. And I can’t return to doing coffee readings like I once used to.
“Grandma style” as I call it.
As an unparalleled fortune telling experience, “Turkish Coffee Room” may perhaps confuse some customers. But it also represents who I am. Therefore the best I can do is to accept this fact, and propel myself towards the future. All the while, protecting my heart without losing my love for you — my audience.
I hope to see each and every single one of you at The Beacon Theater in a few years.
