Photo: Jakub Dziubak on Unsplash
Coffee says a lot about people. How someone drinks their coffee reveals personal, almost intimate details about them. Unless you know someone well, their coffee preference stays unknown, except to their inner circle and their barista.
The pronunciation of “coffee” reveals parts of an origin story, telling whether someone might be from KwaZulu-Natal or the great state of Texas. There’s a Monte Carlo (data-based) simulation of “the coffee ring effect” on manuscripts and papers. The Coffee Index tracks the commodity’s dollar value. However, for coffee drinkers, its value is measured in moments and memories instead of money. Alex J Coyne looks at the love of coffee and its greater impact on art and literature.
For the love of coffee
Coffee often appears in popular culture, even when it’s not the focal point. The beverage is fitting for many characters, scenes and situations. When coffee drinking is part of the creator’s daily routine, it finds its way into their work or art. However, coffee isn’t just a background prop, but reveals something about characters or storylines – and often about their creators.
A study in scarlet is clear about Sherlock Holmes’s love for coffee, where he requires a strong brew ready in the morning. Coffee is a stimulant, first and foremost, though usually in a milder form than Holmes’s regular tastes.
Too Much Coffee Man, a comic strip syndicated to The Daily Texan, introduces a superhero who’s powered by cigarettes and coffee.
Jon Arbuckle from Garfield is usually pictured holding a cup of coffee. Chief Wiggum from The Simpsons loves doughnuts – but never without some coffee.
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However, coffee isn’t just a background prop, but reveals something about characters or storylines – and often about their creators.
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“Coffee” is the sixteenth word in fictional detective Jack Reacher’s debut, inspiring an official Jack Reacher Custom Coffee. A “bold, dark-roasted blend” that matches the character’s rough, retired military persona – it’s what you’d expect him to start his days with.
Black coffee is Agatha Christie’s choice beverage for the three-act play of the same name. Of course, it’s the coffee rather than the candlestick or noose that is the murder weapon in this Hercule Poirot tale.
The landlady by Roald Dahl features coffee, however briefly, as a young visitor becomes acquainted with his new surroundings.
Harry Potter makes multiple references to caffeine-based beverages. In real life, Starbucks has a secret menu that includes several drinks out of the Potterverse.
Hannibal Lecter doesn’t just drink chianti, the Italian red wine, but also appreciates an occasional coffee. Reddit users on /r/Coffee sparked a whole discussion about which coffeemaker Hannibal uses on the show.
Coffee in film and television
Film and television also use the beverage as the occasional focal point, revelation or plot device.
Friends and How I met your mother are inseparable from coffee and might have been different shows without it.
Science fiction isn’t immune to its influence: Star Trek features Raktajino, a Klingon coffee. Appropriately, it’s crossed over into the real world with Pop Culture Coffee producing Star Trek brews.
A nightmare on Elm Street wouldn’t have been the same with tea, as sleep-deprived teenagers stave off their nightmares with coffee from an all-night diner.
Quentin Tarantino included several notable coffee scenes in Reservoir dogs and Pulp fiction. There’s Natural born killers, too, featuring one of the best monologues in a diner.
Men in black features a room full of aliens brewing coffee, hidden in a compartment of the headquarters.
In 2013, CollegeHumor released their film Coffee town, with a 56% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The plot takes place in a coffee shop, a good setting for any movie.
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Coffee is more than just a beverage; it could have been a supporting character.
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Television show Heroes featured a diner set in Midland, Texas, where Hiro and Ando meet Charlie Andrews – a girl whose superpower is to memorise anything. The subplot became a novelisation called Heroes: Saving Charlie.
The big Lebowski features The Dude and Walter discussing matters over coffee, which isn’t to be interrupted.
Neo encounters Trinity – now living as Tiffany – in The matrix: Resurrections while having his coffee. If you’ve missed parts of the story, Neo returns as a computer programmer.
Coffee is more than just a beverage; it could have been a supporting character.
Coffee in the real world
Coffee is also brewed in the real world, where it’s connected to memories, people and our daily routines. It’s a historical drink, with its use dating back to ancient groups who fully believed in the brew’s divinity.
South African author CJ Langenhoven recommended: “Give your guests chicory with the coffee, and they’ll remember the chicory and forget the coffee.” Chicory, if you don’t know it yet, is a popular instant coffee substitute – made from the plant’s roots.
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Gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson didn’t start his mornings without coffee and grapefruit. Philosopher Voltaire reportedly consumed up to 40 cups of coffee per day, an almost lethal amount.
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Gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson didn’t start his mornings without coffee and grapefruit. Philosopher Voltaire reportedly consumed up to 40 cups of coffee per day, an almost lethal amount.
According to the New York Times, Leonard Cohen’s “days routinely began with a freshly pulled espresso at Bagel Etc, a 35-year-old diner and cafe where vintage mirrors, signage and art run amok on the brick walls”.
Carla Lang, another South African author, named her autobiography and story of motherhood #kouekoffie (or #coldcoffee) – something she associates with busy routines that cool coffees down.
Comedian and author Melt Sieberhagen calls the coffee machine his current favourite household gadget. Coffee is automatically ground, with a timer, leaving the familiar coffee aroma floating throughout the house – except, he says, when there’s a power cut.
Charles Bukowski wrote in the poem No 6: “I’ll settle for the 6 horse/ on a rainy afternoon,/ a paper cup of coffee/ in my hand”.
Coffee says a lot about people.
Coffee and people
Coffee is a drink for individual tastes, and each person prefers their coffee made in a different way. Watching people get coffee is a somewhat voyeuristic peek into their personalities (or how their day might be going).
Who rushes through the line, leaving in a huff like they have somewhere else to be? Who takes their time, occasionally looking down at their smartphone? Which patron spikes their coffee from a flask?
Some patrons are working night shift, dragging the last bit of energy from their chosen brew; others get coffee as a shield against the cold, siphoning heat from the cup. You’ll learn a lot about people, just watch them getting their coffee.
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Bitter, darker blend coffee drinkers aren’t the same as sweet coffee drinkers. There’s a distinct difference between someone who prefers darkly roasted, whisky-filled black coffee and the next person, who might ask for a simple espresso with cream. What does your coffee say about you?
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Studies show correlations between personality types and bitter tastes. Bitter, darker blend coffee drinkers aren’t the same as sweet coffee drinkers. There’s a distinct difference between someone who prefers darkly roasted, whisky-filled black coffee and the next person, who might ask for a simple espresso with cream. What does your coffee say about you?
Coffee and art
Coffee is the stuff of songs and songwriters, although many artists and freelancers can say the same for themselves.
In addition to famous coffee drinkers and characters who drink the beverage, there are songs about coffee. Can you think of songs that mention it? Some readers might have a song ready; others might have to think about it first.
The Beatles had Savoy Truffle, with delightful double entendres. Mississippi John Hurt talks about the Maxwell’s House brand coffee in Coffee blues, and Otis Redding had the song Cigarettes and coffee.
Band Beabadoobee’s song “Coffee” contains the lyrics: “Don’t stay awake for too long/ Don’t go to bed/ I’ll make a cup of coffee for your head”.
According to formal studies, like this one, coffee “may protect individuals against depression over time”. Coffee, with responsible consumption, has measurable health benefits – and in many ways, coffee can make you feel better.
Blur has Coffee and TV, Johnny Cash’s Cup of coffee laments the brew, and Bob Dylan could use One more cup of coffee. There’s also Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and ample more.
Without coffee, we’d still be creatives, but our creativity probably wouldn’t flow the same way. I ordered an overpriced coffee at a chain restaurant the other day, finding the same advice my cowriter once sent me emblazoned on the wall: “You’ve got this.” I remember a time when I was drinking much worse coffee, telling Suzannah (now my cowriter) about future plans to write. Now published, we still talk ideas over coffee, and that simple piece of advice is as reliable as coffee itself.
With a little help from my friends wasn’t about coffee, but it could have been.
Writing is difficult, art is difficult: coffee and encouragement help.
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Londen se koffiefees sit dié stad se kafeïen terug waar dit hoort
