Coffee With Tanya #32
Talking about: the story behind the Americano, how old jeans become new homes, Mississippi’s haunted mansion, the night misfits took the stage, why fear feels good, and October in history.
Hello, coffee lovers! 🍂
October always hums with anticipation, like the season’s on the edge of something new. It’s still 27 degrees here in Tel Aviv, but I’m dreaming of rain, cool mornings, and the smell of wet streets. 🌧️
It’s the perfect month for transformation stories... From denim to shelter, espresso to comfort, and fear to connection.
Here’s what’s brewing on this month’s menu:
- Coffee!! When Espresso met homesickness: the story of the Americano ☕
- Sustainability - When old jeans warm new homes 👖+🏠
- Travel - When history refuses to stay quiet 🏫
- Culture - When the Misfits took over the night 🌃 🎥
- Mind & Mood - Why we love to be scared 😮
- Word Bites - Glimmer 🔡
- October in History 🌎
"Our life is what our thoughts make it" // the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius.
When Espresso Met Homesickness ☕
Well... starting with one of my favorite topics... Coffee... Especially Americano!
Ever wondered how the Americano got its name?
It wasn’t born in a fancy café.. it started on a battlefield.
During World War II, American soldiers stationed in Italy found themselves face-to-face with the bold, bitter espresso that locals loved. Used to sipping large mugs of drip coffee back home, they weren’t quite ready for the concentrated Italian shot. So they did what any homesick soul would do... improvised! They added hot water to soften the espresso, recreating a taste that felt a little more like home.
And just like that, the Caffè Americano was born... not from trend, but from nostalgia.
After the war, the soldiers brought their newfound drink back to the U.S., where it quietly joined the American coffee ritual - morning commutes, dinners, and all.
The Americano reminds me that comfort often comes from the simplest mix, in this case, just water and memory.
When Old Jeans Warm New Homes 👖 🏠
Some stories make you pause... and smile... at how humans keep finding warmth in unexpected places.
This one starts in your closet.
Your favorite jeans.
Faded knees. Soft denim. Too loved to throw away.. but too worn to wear.
Now imagine: those same jeans coming back as insulation. Say what?! 👂
Keeping someone’s home warm through winter. Soundproofing a classroom. Reducing waste in landfills. A quiet act of recycling that turns nostalgia into comfort.
Here’s how it works 👇
- Programs like Blue Jeans Go Green collect used denim.
- It’s shredded into cotton fibers, treated for safety, and pressed into thick panels called UltraTouch® Recycled Denim Insulation.
- Builders use it in homes and community projects worldwide.
Why it’s actually brilliant:
Softer and safer, strong sound absorption, great thermal performance and... a second life for discarded textiles.
But: it still needs fireproofing, costs more, and remains niche, yet its symbolism is perfect.
Denim, once a symbol of rebellion, reborn as warmth and shelter.
Because comfort, it turns out, never really disappears; it just changes form. 💙
When History Refuses to Stay Quiet 👻
Some houses hold warmth... others hold whispers.
In Vicksburg, Mississippi, there’s one that does both.
The mansion is called McRaven House.
Built in 1797, McRaven House survived wars, epidemics, and endless human stories, and, if you believe the locals, not everyone inside has left.... Spooky! 👻
CNN writer (and confessed skeptic) Jim Beaugez spent a night there.
Here’s what he found:
- A tour guide swears she saw a man who vanished mid-step, his hair identical to the portrait of the home’s murdered owner.
- The house once served as a Civil War hospital; hundreds of soldiers are buried just 50 feet away.
- Ghost-hunting meters flickered, footsteps echoed, and the air grew cold, like the house was remembering.
By dawn, Beaugez left unconvinced but uneasy.
Because sometimes, even skepticism can’t outshine the feeling that history is watching.
Would you go there?
When the Misfits Took Over the Night 🎭
Not all ghosts haunt old houses... some dance in fishnets under midnight lights. 💫
After McRaven’s echoes of the past, we move to a different kind of haunting, one born on stage.
Every Halloween, The Rocky Horror Picture Show turns theaters into temples of joyful rebellion, where fear becomes fun and difference takes center stage.
When it premiered in 1975, no one paid much attention. And yet, 50 years later, it’s still running.
Every Halloween weekend, theaters fill with fans dressed to the nines in glitter and lace, shouting every line from memory.
Why it still matters:
- The audience became the show.
At a 1976 screening, one man yelled at the screen, and a phenomenon was born. Fans turned moviegoing into a live performance. - It turned “weird” into wonderful.
Rocky Horror gave misfits a home before we had words like “inclusive.” For queer communities, dreamers, and outsiders, it was belonging. - It reinvented what it meant to be a fan.
Long before costume parties and TikTok trends, audiences were already remixing culture in real time, shouting, dressing up, and performing. The Washington Post once called it “social media before social media.”
This Halloween, as people pull on masks and makeup, we're reminded that Rocky Horror wasn’t just dress-up, it was permission. To be seen. To be different. To be yourself. 🖤
And there is no one better than yourself!
Always remember this.
Why We Love to Be Scared 😱🎃
Maybe that’s the real thread of October... from Rocky Horror’s joyfully weird nights to the haunted hush of McRaven House, people keep chasing fear we can control.
People line up for haunted houses, stream horror movies, and pay to be chased by fake monsters.
But here’s the twist: fear, when it’s safe, actually feels good.
Scientists call it controlled fear; your brain knows you’re safe, but your body doesn’t. Heart racing, adrenaline rushing… then relief. That chemical mix floods you with dopamine, the same feel-good feeling as falling in love or sipping coffee on a cold morning. ☕
(See what I did there? We’re back to coffee... ☕😉)
Inside the fear loop:
- Thrill: adrenaline + dopamine = euphoria.
- Release: tension melts into calm once the “danger” passes.
- Reboot: fear snaps you into the present, quieting anxious thought loops.
And when we share that fear, screaming together in a dark theater, oxytocin bonds us. Fear becomes connection. Horror nights become laughter.
It’s emotional strength training disguised as fun, a reminder that bravery isn’t the absence of fear, but the ability to dance with it. 💀✨
Read more here:
Word Bites 📚🌟
Glimmer ✨
After all the horror and fear, it feels right to end with something soft, something that soothes instead of startles.
In psychology, a glimmer is the opposite of a trigger, a small, gentle moment that sparks calm, joy, or safety.
It’s that tiny shift when your body remembers peace again.
After all the chills and shadows of October, a glimmer is that moment when the light comes back. It’s a spark of calm after fear, a flicker of warmth that reminds you you’re safe again.
October in History 🌍
- October 1, 1908 - Ford’s Model T hits the market and changes transportation forever 🚗.
- October 24, 1929 - Black Thursday sparks panic on Wall Street, triggering the Great Depression 📉 .
- October 29, 1969 - The first internet message is sent from UCLA to Stanford 💻.
- October 4, 1957 - Sputnik 1 launches 🚀, marking the dawn of space exploration.
- October 30, 1993 - The Nightmare Before Christmas premieres, blending Halloween and Christmas into one hauntingly sweet classic 🦇.
- 📖 October 31, 1892 - Arthur Conan Doyle publishes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, giving the world its most enduring detective. 🔍
Recommendations 🌟
What I’m reading / watching / listening this month:
- 📖 Book - Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
A Nobel Prize-winning masterpiece about love, loneliness, and the quiet ache of impermanence. Set in Japan’s frozen mountain region, it follows a fleeting romance between a wealthy traveler and a geisha, a story as fragile and haunting as falling snow. - 🎬 TV Show - High Potential
Brilliant, witty, and full of heart. This new series follows a single mom with an extraordinary mind who ends up solving crimes alongside the police. Think Sherlock Holmes meets chaos parenting - and somehow, it works. - 🎧 Podcast - Call Her Daddy (Kim Kardashian episode)
Yes, that one.
In one of her most open interviews, Kim talks about identity, motherhood, and redefining power in her own terms. Candid, unexpected, and oddly grounding, a reminder that even icons have inner lives. 🎙️
Wrap-Up
That’s all for today. Stay tuned for the November coffee with me! Hopefully the rain will start around here... 🌧️🌈
You can find me writing about Product management on LinkedIn, running my business at velonova.io, rating movies/TV shows on IMDB, or making playlists on Spotify, where I finally updated all my playlist covers and I’m way too proud of it. 😄🎶 (gotta love Midjourney!).
You made it all the way here.... thank you for sharing this coffee with me ☕❤️.
If there’s a topic you’d like me to dive into next, just send it my way.
Ciao!
- Tanya
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