Coffee Time

There are many things that have been accepted in different societies as popular drinks. If you go to England, tea will be an inescapable part of your diet. The Middle Easterners loves Chi, and I hear Germans are very fond of beer. As long as you choose to ignore soda as a possibility, I believe coffee could be titled America’s favorite beverage. But cup by cup, coffee has become more than simply a drink within American society. Swiftly, and with little notice, coffee has become an American pastime.

Hear me out. When I want a drink, I don’t get coffee. I get a soda or a drink of water to quench my thirst, and I drink as much as I need as quickly as I can until my thirst is appeased, and everything is good. Typically, when something is being consumed, it is simply a means to either end hunger or appease a craving (many times the latter).

But something is entirely different when coffee comes into the picture. I am a fairly regular coffee drinker, however, I cannot recall the last time I drove to Starbucks thinking: “I’m thirsty, so I think I’m going to get some coffee.” And when I get coffee, I usually don’t gulp it down to fulfill some sort of physical need (unless severe sleep deprivation has come into the picture).

Rather, you sit down, and slowly sip on it, savoring the flavor, and usually doing hardly anything during the extended period of time that it takes me to finish it. Hours have past during the duration of a single cup of coffee for me. And though coffee is sometimes used to compliment some job of process, (such as the latte I am drinking right now while writing about coffee), drinking coffee is an activity within itself, needing no inspiration other than the mere desire to consume caffeine.

While other consumables are used as the reason for an event, such as going to a restaurant to eat, rarely does someone go to a restaurant simply to eat, or by themselves. There is usually some idea of conversation or comradery that actually inspires such an event. Yet such an excuse is rarely needed at a coffee shop. The company of the coffee, and perhaps a book, is usually enough.

All in all, this may be one of those things within out society that contains no real explanation. One day, coffee may fall from its lofty position of providing sleep deprived people with greatly needed company, but until then, if you’re lonely, go find a cup.