“Coffee in Bosnia was for friends. If you had anything important to talk about with your mom, you make coffee. With co-workers, going out for coffee or making it at home, coffee was for conversations.”

As a refugee in Turkey, Aida lived with 8 family members in two rooms. Her mom was pregnant with Aida’s twin sisters, “I had my first coffee in that little Turkish town! I really think my mom was a hero.”

Rasima remembers that when coffee was hard to come by, her parents would stretch the coffee by brewing it with local grains, like chicory and barley. She preferred lemonade / šerbe to coffee.

Hatidža remembers the coffees shared at the factory where she worked, “Everyone would have their own say / their own story, Svak ima svoju priču,” during their coffee breaks.

Mirzet designed 20 handgrinders from pipe he salvaged at his factory job, “You create the pattern, polish it off, so it’s easier to hold and doesn’t slip in your palm.”

Ismeta was known for making especially rich and creamy coffee, “When I made coffee, they’d say it tasted the same as chocolate.”

As a refugee Nasiha worked at a coffee roaster, “It was very hard, very heavy, and every single day you had to take a shower, wash your hair and everything stunk of coffee.” She is not a coffee drinker.

Mahira’s favorite coffee was with her fiancé at Babica Basta, “it was tied to love, and in a garden, on a hill, and down below, you could see Sarajevo.”