What is sobremesa and should you be doing it too? I'm discussing the importance of sobremesa, c'mon over and learn more about this tradition and why you should do it too.
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What is Sobremesa and Why You Should be Doing it Too

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What is Sobremesa and Why You Should be Doing it Too

I love when blogging, culture, and COFFEE collide. Those of you that know me, know I love coffee, and as much as I’m head over heels for coffee, I’m way more madly in love with my family. Family has always been important to me. Our time together has always been precious, but this summer it became even more precious after our accident. I believe I love hard because of my own upbringing; seeing love and laughter marry over various tables, card games, maybe a little chisme (gossip), and countless cups of after-dinner-coffee. Sobremesa!

What is sobremesa and should you be doing it too? I'm discussing the importance of sobremesa, c'mon over and learn more about this tradition and why you should do it too.

Sobremesa?

Sobremesa is a meaningful time in hispanic culture to connect with family and friends after dinner, usually chatting away about life, it’s best served with a good cup of coffee and maybe a sweet or two. Growing up I did not realize there was name for what my family did, we just did it. The smell of dinner would be swept away by the intoxicating smell of coffee that I wasn’t allowed to have (heavy eye roll, because my dad isn’t looking 😀 ), but what I did get to enjoy was the laughter. The laughter and loud voices were so jubilant, I wanted those moments to last forever. And they have! Well, they last forever in my memory, and hopefully my children will have lasting memories of our own sobremesa.

On the importance of time and keeping the tradition of sobremesa. "The Price of ANYTHING is the amount of life you exchange for it. " |Henry David Thoreau| Sobremesa| Time| Family time

Don’t Rush.

Life is rushing all around us. We have a zillion things to do and we want to finish them now. Our culture has become quite plugged in. This can be good, but it’s also distracting. We gobble down meals to get to work, and we can now do work from our phones! But the best work we’ll ever work on is our life: our loves, our friends, our families- connections! Those are the things that matter most. Every once in a while we need to slow down. When you take the time to relax and take in the moment life is less heavy.  Sobremesa is a time to let it go, laugh, recharge, and reconnect- it’s awesome! My husband and I have been curators of sobremesa for some time, without even knowing it.

We’re nomadic, so when we get family and friends to visit it means everything to us. We savor all the time we can get with our guests and yes, that means coffee time! It’s wonderful to laugh over coffee and learn more about friends and family. We even share the table with our babies, they can’t have coffee just yet, but boy are they trying. My ten-year-old thought the Nescafé Clasico was for her. 😀 Nope, all Papa’s and Mama’s BUUUTT we did share the extra goodies, some hot chocolate, and tons of laughs. One of the things we like to do with our kids over sobremesa is ask them questions like cake or donuts, Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, Taylor Swift or Katy Perry, those questions lead to more questions, which then leads to conversation party of five. 🙂

Sobremesa is for lovers

My husband and I have always made sobremesa time for the two of us. Since we’re far away from family and friends sometimes we have to make time at home. We’ve always called this time “coffee dates”, I’ve referenced our coffee dates here before. We would wait until the kids went to bed, then make ourselves coffee and enjoy each other’s company. Yesterday, my love and I had our own #MomentoNESCAFE, the kids were in school, we had lunch, and then we chatted over Nescafe Clasico. No phones, no internet, no kids, just us. It was nice to talk about life, work, blogging, politics, and laugh. Unfortunately, our sobremesa felt like un memento because my husband had to get back to work, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was a time to connect, just the two of us coffee-loving lovers. And that’s the beauty of sobremesa, it doesn’t have to be big, it doesn’t have to be right after dinner, we had lunch, and you don’t have to be a hispanic to celebrate connections. Laughter, love, good conversation, and coffee transcends. 🙂

What is sobremesa and why you should be doing it too.| Sobremesa| Coffee| Connecting

 

NESCAFÉ Clásico wants to keep the sobremesa tradition going strong and remind you that you could enjoy a great moment any day of the week simply by bringing coffee to the table after dinner… or lunch. 😉  I encourage you to watch this video of two groups enjoying sobremesa with #MomentoNESCAFE,  one party has Nescafé Clasico and the other well you’ll see…
Do You Sobremesa?

Does your family linger around the table and enjoy each other’s company? Do you have a sobremesa story, if so share your story on social media using #MomentoNESCAFE (Nescafe Facebook). Which party would you want to be at in the video?

 

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32 thoughts on “What is Sobremesa and Why You Should be Doing it Too

  1. Akaleistar

    April 28, 2016 at 8:06 pm

    Sobremesa sounds absolutely lovely 🙂

    1. MrsA0K2001

      April 29, 2016 at 12:17 pm

      It is. It would be lovely to have you at one. 🙂
      XOXO

  2. Tamara

    April 28, 2016 at 10:28 pm

    Ohhh.. your photos! So lovely. I can almost taste the coffee we will have when I finally visit you!

    1. MrsA0K2001

      April 29, 2016 at 1:53 pm

      Thank you, Tamara!! That means SO MUCH coming from you. 🙂
      I cannot wait for our visit, one day…
      XOXO

  3. Kim

    April 29, 2016 at 1:44 am

    We love and cherish time with family and friends. Such a good reminder to remember to slow down enjoy them more.

    1. MrsA0K2001

      April 29, 2016 at 1:54 pm

      We have to slow down, we have to take in each second we get with them. No regrets.
      Thanks for stopping by, Kim. I hope you’ll enjoy a sobremesa with your family. 🙂
      XOXO

  4. Michelle

    April 29, 2016 at 6:42 am

    Does Happy Hour count? That is my Sobremesa time!

    1. MrsA0K2001

      April 29, 2016 at 1:54 pm

      NICEEE!! I like your sobremesa time!!
      XOXO

  5. Lauren Gnapi

    April 29, 2016 at 7:30 pm

    Yes, this is a great idea! I don’t drink coffee but it is important to have family time!

    1. MrsA0K2001

      May 3, 2016 at 12:13 pm

      I couldn’t agree more, family time is everything. 🙂
      XOXO

  6. Vicky

    April 29, 2016 at 8:46 pm

    Can’t wait to try this! Coffee is vital to blogging as you well know.

    1. MrsA0K2001

      May 3, 2016 at 12:13 pm

      Yes.it.is! Coffee for president 🙂
      Thanks for stopping by.
      XO

  7. tiaras and tantrums

    April 29, 2016 at 11:47 pm

    I LOVE this post! My grandmother was all about this – even though she was Eastern Euro! My brother and I do this when we are together – just for that feeling it gives us(we live 6 hours from each other)! I try to get my kids to do this and I get the – you are so boring!

  8. Bev Feldman @ Linkouture

    April 30, 2016 at 6:51 am

    I had never heard of “sobremesa”.before, which is shocking considering how much time I have spent in Spanish-speaking countries, but I really like how literal it is. It seems like such a Jewish thing too! Every time we stay with my parents, or have friends over for dinner, or have a holiday meal, we definitely have this time. I do think I need to do this more with Sam when it’s just the two of us!

  9. Diane

    April 30, 2016 at 5:27 pm

    That’s a nice way to sit and share your day with the family. I had never heard that name for it before. Thanks for teaching me something new today. 🙂

  10. Michele

    April 30, 2016 at 8:14 pm

    What a great quote and concept to practice! Everything is at 150 miles an hour…. I need to try this more often!

  11. Julie @ Girl on the Move

    April 30, 2016 at 11:29 pm

    Posts like this make me wish I liked coffee…it always look like such a great time with friends and family over a cup of coffee!

  12. Claire

    May 1, 2016 at 12:35 am

    I love this idea! We are going to start implementing it tomorrow!

  13. Amanda Love

    May 1, 2016 at 2:09 am

    We never linger around as a family but I wonder if after hours lounge time with friends count. 🙂 It’s been a while since I’ve had nescafe. I’ll have to pick one up the next time I’m in the supermarket.

  14. jill conyers

    May 1, 2016 at 5:43 am

    Sobremesa sounds like a wonderful idea. Maybe make it a family tradition once a week to connect.

  15. Lowanda J

    May 1, 2016 at 1:01 pm

    This is such a beautiful tradition. My Italian neighbors have coffee every evening and wind down in the same manner. I wonder what they call it? Thanks for sharing and your post just pulls your readers in as if we are there.

  16. Denea

    May 1, 2016 at 5:37 pm

    I am half mexican and in our household we always did this especially with my abeula! Never knew the name for it! This means a lot in our family!

  17. Yona Williams

    May 1, 2016 at 7:41 pm

    Coffee does have an incredibly intoxicating aroma! I love the coffee cup shown at the end of this post.

  18. Toughcookiemommy

    May 1, 2016 at 8:24 pm

    This post brings back so many wonderful memories from when I was little in Spain. Sobremesa time was a special time to share with loved ones every day.

  19. Katie

    May 2, 2016 at 10:14 am

    Family mealtimes was always a guarded tradition in my house when I was growing up and I love that time together with family at the end of the day. This is really neat, it’s cool to see how traditions translate in other cultures and explore their traditions and terms and phrases for them.

    Thanks for sharing!

    #MMBH

  20. Debra

    May 2, 2016 at 4:19 pm

    Such gorgeous photos! You really captured the essence of this product in your photos. So gorgeous!

  21. laura londergan

    May 2, 2016 at 5:55 pm

    oh I love this and never knew this tradition had a name. we always do this when we have family get-togethers and now I can out a name with it! fab!!

  22. Eileen

    May 2, 2016 at 10:01 pm

    Sobremesa – yum! My family is from Ireland and we drink a lot of tea together. However, now that my older kids are in college they really love their coffee. We have family time in the afternoon to review the day and enjoy our time. Your post reminds me of the fun we have together

  23. Sonya K

    May 3, 2016 at 12:26 pm

    I don’t even drink coffee, but the coffee party looked like it was more fun ☺ Having a time to chill and laugh after dinner sounds like a great tradition.

  24. Vashti Q

    May 3, 2016 at 7:27 pm

    I do ‘sobremesa’! We just never had a word for it. I have a large family and my husband does too. We have lots of dinners with family and the ‘sobremesa’ afterward is LOUD. Ha, ha! Very sweet and meaningful post. <3

  25. Caryn

    May 5, 2016 at 9:20 am

    I love it. We don’t do it. We rush through dinner to get through the routine. Can I just start a new tradition? W don’t really drink coffee, but I could make tea, right?

  26. Experienced Bad Mom (@ExperBadMom)

    September 25, 2017 at 10:20 am

    I love the idea of sobremesa! Thanks for introducing me.

    #MMBH

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