From Grounds to Glory

Coffee Has Feelings Too

The human relationship with coffee is a tumultuous one. Few things are more celebrated and vilified among us. It has been both praised and condemned by health authorities. It is legal in every state and has zero regulations attached to it concerning its biological effects or addictive properties. It has been the sludgy stimulant of frontiersman and the drinkable accessory for image conscious beats, hipsters and any other variety of layabouts. In that order.

Dark Ages

It was not that long ago that coffee, if purchased by the cup at a restaurant or store was not more than 50 cents. The variety people “enjoyed” in their home was a processed product stored into a giant vacuum sealed can and produced a thin, watery substance that was so unremarkable even it’s low quality went unnoticed for decades. In the dark ages of coffee, it was undervalued and undernourished.

Corporate Coffee

Then came the revolution. The price for a cup of coffee was suddenly keeping pace with the price of a gallon of gasoline. People were buying grinders for their WHOLE coffee BEANS. The entire coffee scene was venturing into an indulgence of time wastage not seen since tropical fish aquariums first made their appearance in peoples homes.

Drink Up

Coffee has enjoyed a liberty unlike any other liquid with significant pharmacological effects. Alcohol can’t keep up. The last time somebody started their day off with a beer, had another one in the car on the way to work and then walked around, cubicle to cubicle, sipping casually in between chatting with unnatural energy and confidence, was when “somebody” was arrested and fired in the same day. People start their day with coffee; have some after lunch. There’s even coffee that doesn’t keep you awake so you can have some before bed. Nobody can do it like coffee.

Where Is This (story) Going?

Something new is happening though. The lines are longer in the coffee shops and fewer people are sticking around to peck away on their laptops, pretending to work. The grinders are broken or packed away and instant coffee is now making a comeback, but not so lowbrow this time. Some people are even using coffee machines in their homes that feature instant coffee stuffed in a cartridge and made for you in seconds with the punch of a button. That stuff doesn’t taste very good. Things might not be looking so good for coffee.

Respect

Alcohol may have tumblers, low balls, high balls and all kinds of balls but coffee has MUGS. Mugs. And you know you’ve got at least an entire shelf dedicated to just those mugs. Drop a cocktail glass on the floor and it will shatter and make a big scene leaving you embarrassed in front of all of your well-dressed friends and a bunch of people you don’t know. Drop a mug on the floor and it will find it’s way to your unprotected toes and the only thing shattered will be you and your will to remain upright as you suffer alone, clutching your foot, lying on the kitchen floor.

A New Approach

Coffee doesn’t deserve the treatment it’s received over the years—neither the peasantry nor the pageantry. It deserves to just be. Be brewed. Be sipped. Befriended.