Coffee makes my life better
Happy National Coffee Day (Sept. 29)! I’m not really sure who or what association has dubbed it thus, but I don’t need a whole lot of convincing to give over a whole day of celebration to my beverage of choice.
Most of my readers are aware of my obsession with coffee and my lifelong dream to one day own a café. What I’ve been thinking about lately is why I love coffee so much. There are a lot of reasons, but when you get down to the core of it, coffee has plain made my life better. I’m not even being melodramatic. Allow me to explain.
It was hard growing up in my house. I love both my folks to death, but when I was in high school my dad was addicted. My mom worked later than he did, so that meant that when I came straight home from school, it was just he and I. I was never afraid of my dad, but it wasn’t always pleasant to be around him without a buffer, like my mom. I got a car my junior year of high school and a weekend job. I no longer had to be at home right after school.
Enter the coffee house.
There is one place where a high school kid can go and remain for hours on end for only a few bucks. I found solace in cafés. All I needed was enough to buy an Americano and a bagel. I would sit for hours immersed in homework, SAT prep and whatever Truman Capote or Heidegger book I was reading at the time. I didn’t have to go home. I didn’t have to face uncertainty. Over time, everyone knew me, and they were happy to see me. They knew what I would order. Baristas became my friends and the hours I spent there stretched out. I belonged.
I truly believe that’s one reason I feel so at home in cafés and coffee shops. No matter what city or country I’m in, the local coffee shop welcomes me. It is familiar and it is safe and it is in my soul. I’m pretty sure that’s also why I want to open my own café. I love the idea of providing a haven that was so generously given to me.
The other way coffee has genuinely made my life better is the way it brings me into the present. I have a hard time staying in the moment. I don’t think that’s unique to me; I imagine a lot of people have trouble with it. Otherwise, Zen Buddhism wouldn’t exist, right?
Coffee is to me what wine is to oenophiles. I can tell you what the best origins are, what the acidity level is and how it affects the flavor, and my favorite extraction method. I drink it black so I can taste the different notes of the bean – bright, fruity, nutty, robust, bold, etc. I like to add flavors that play up those notes. My favorite is a soy almond latte. The almond and soy bring out the nutty quality of the espresso. Or adding cinnamon to an Americano. It brings out the spice.
My point is that when I’m paying attention to the flavors, my senses are sharpened. I take in everything around me – the air, the light, what’s going on in my life, my surroundings, how I feel. For example, this past Christmas was my first sober Christmas. And it was the first time I was spending it away from my immediate family or a boyfriend’s family. I woke up that morning alone in my apartment with my little Christmas tree, brewed some coffee and took my mug to the stairs outside my door. As I sipped, I let the moment set in. The air was crisp and cool. I was sober; I was employed, and I was single and happy. I knew I might never be there again – alone on Christmas, that is. And I savored it as I drank my coffee.
As silly as it sounds, coffee is a part of my soul for these reasons. I’ve stopped at different points in my life, but I always come back to it because it comforts me and it feels right. Besides, I was told caffeine was the only drug I could do in sobriety. Har har.
Anybody else got some good coffee stories?
I understand what you mean. I have a similar addiction but I’m addicted to tea. I don’t think it is the caffeine as much as it is the feeling I get when I drink tea. I love the comforting effect tea has so when, every single day, tea forms the first part of my morning ritual I know it’s because I need that comfort and consistency.
Last year I moved to London for about 4 months. I had never left my family and friends. Ever. It was the lonliest time. I was working in a place that wasn’t conducive to making friends with people my age so I felt very isolated. I found that in order to comfort myself I would go to a starbucks and sit for hours reading or writing. It was both the comfort of the tea as well as the consistency of my surroundings in a starbucks that got me through. Every starbucks is designed in the exact same way and I realised that I was looking to find consistency and comfort in a rainy, dark, cold place.
So that’s my coffee house story.
Hi Holly, I really enjoyed this post. I don’t quite have the relationship with coffee that you do, but it has had impact on my life. I’ve been drinking coffee since I was about 10 and I remember Saturday mornings sitting with my parents, sipping coffee and eating eggs my dad fried up. It was (usually) calm these mornings, unlike the chaos and turmoil experienced most of the time.
In college, my friends and I had a great time at a little coffee shop called the Mudhouse, which had board games and books in the back. We spent hours there studying and relaxing. It truly was a great time in my life.
I could go on, but I don’t want to bore you! Anyway, I appreciate your post – you helped open my eyes to the wonder coffee provides.
It’s so important to know what’s important to you, and I love what coffee means to you! It’s about having something in your life that adds richness to your life and gives you a mechanism to return to your centre.
That’s worth it’s weight in gold, isn’t it?
I find that coffee shops give me the space and freedom to write, and I make sure to prioritise all those things that make me feel like me.
A good case in point – I have a 9am train to catch into London for a new contract and hadn’t really woken up yet. I popped into a little Italian Deli at the end of my street to have a quick macchiato. The radio was on and I heard “Waiting for a Star to Fall” by Boy Meets Girl (cheese, anyone?) and “If You Really Love Me?” by Stevie Wonder. Great songs and a great macchiato.
I’m ready for my day now
Up until now, my indulgence was a drive through Starbucks on the way to work. But the line, the line…
So, I bought a Keigig (sp?) machine one where you can get one cup of coffee, have you seen it?
It’s awesome, and much better than storebought cofee, INHO.
Maybe I should buy one of those off white Starbucks mugs to look like I just stopped by…
Nice name, btw.
GL. HOFFMAN
http://www.whatwoulddadsay.com
Minneapolis, MN
I hate coffee, but loved your story. I do love tea. I love all the different kinds, and can’t wait until it cools off here and I can drink it all day again (the 110+ degrees in the summer don’t make you crave it, particularly). I have a swanky tea box filled with different kinds.
@marina: Yes, absolutely! Comfort in consistency. Life in my house was very inconsistent growing up – I found relief in familiar settings also.
@angela: Coffee stories could never bore me! When I went away to college in Winter Park, FL it was Stardust. One half was an indie/arthouse film rental, the other half coffee house. I loved when my friends’ bands would play.
@steve errey: I can’t write in my apt. I find it impossible. I love the whole “being alone together” thing I have going on at a cafe. Good music + good coffee?? Solid gold!
@anonymous: I bring my own French press to work so I can press a cup or two of my own, without having to endure the schwag my coworkers call coffee. $12.95! Also the best extraction method for American-style coffee, in my hunble opinion.
Btw, G. Hoffman is my pops, too!
@honey: ::sigh:: Sadly, the BF hates coffee too. I can wrangle him into some tea when I drag him through a coffee house though. I love a good cup of tea also. I tend to go that way after lunch, when I need a pick-me-up without sending my heart rate through the roof!
I love coffee, especially after a good workout early in the morning. It really enhances my creativity and brainstorming ability.
You know what’s a little odd for me? I usually can only drink .5 cups of coffee per day…that’s right, any more and I start to feel kinda shitty and my stomach gives me grief. It’s a rare day when I drink an entire cup of regular coffee, and I NEVER drink two in a day. I’ve never met another lightweight coffee drinker like me who likes it so much.
I’m also a big tea fan. I lived in England for a year and I totally loved tea time. We need that tradition over here.
I’m a little sad that I missed coffee day, but I guess I celebrated in my own way by enjoying a good cup.
I think you make a few interesting points Holly. It seems like what you’re saying is that coffee really helps you to be present. I know not everyone likes that term, but I tend to ignore the terminology and look at the meaning behind it.
You say that when you enjoy a cup of coffee, all your senses are heightened. I totally agree. The taste of coffee, picking out the different flavour notes (I’m a big fan of Ethiopian Harrar coffee; blueberry and chocolate aromas . . . mmmmm . . . ), it brings you to what you’re doing at the moment. When you’re trying to decipher that hint of spice, you can’t be thinking about what you have to do later. It draws you to the now, and allows you to savour more than just the flavour.
Man, this makes me want a coffee now . . .
@lance: That sounds pretty ideal to me, actually. I have a tendency to love to excess, so I end up with my chest pains, headaches & acid reflux if I let myself drink all I want!
I've always loved the idea of tea time, too. Been to Europe twice, but never to England. I'm convinced I would fall in love with it. Not the food though… nasty.
@adam: Every day is coffee day! No, you're right, absolutely. Coffee does allow me to be present and that's what I was trying to get across.
Oh oh, I love Ethiopian, but Yergacheffe is my favorite. I'm a big fan of the velvety Italian roasts too. You're my coffee soul mate – nothing can be wrong in the world when so much is right inside the cup.
Hi Holly,
I read your blog and always enjoy it, but have never commented before. This post hit somewhat home as my girlfriend and her husband have just taken over a coffee shop in north Minneapolis and she is able to discern the coffee flavors as well as you can! It all tastes relatively the same to me, although I do enjoy coffee. I know you have start-up experience, but if you ever want to talk to a 27 year old that runs a coffee shop I’d be happy to get you in contact with her to chat about the ins and outs of her shop. It’s her first business and she’s a coffee addict as well!
Thank you for your continued interesting posts!
I completely relate to this… Heck, I am writing this from a Starbucks right now! Much like they have for you, cafes and coffee shops have become a bit of a home away from home for me, even if it is one I go to while traveling that I have never been to before.
what a funny time for me to read this. I too love coffee and have for years. I am very comforted by a warm mug in my hands and the atmosphere of a lived-in coffeehouse. Just this morning I was feeling like my body was needing a break from the zing. And it might, but I would miss my rituals. My last blog post was about coffeeshops and bookstores. Check it out if you’d like.
Ahhhh… Coffee. I love coffee. Coffee is my friend. Some of my memories of coffee revolve around fishing and when I commercially fished in Alaska. Coffee kept us going and the fresh pot was social hour for the crew.
My misadventure with coffee was being 18 in Amsterdam. I went in thinking it was for coffee and boy was I wrong.
I was an exchange student in Germany for a year and the coffee houses (konditorei) were where everyone went after school. I learned a lot about Germany and Germans there. It was the way to socialize there.