Be Friends With Coffee

I recently read somewhere that this is the time to connect with people that care about us; This is the time to be around them more. Somehow as some of us feel we are more able to spend time with our loved ones because of all this technology at our fingertips, some of us think that we are entirely cut off. While we might be on our phones or computers all day long, we might not be that great at using it for communication.

This makes me think of coffee or tea, depending on where your heart truly belongs. A good cup of coffee can cure any ailment. You will feel that’s not true if you are not addicted to this pure joy.

When you first open your eyes in the morning, look around to see the sunlight beaming through the window no matter what your night has done to you, you know your coffee/tea is going to take care of you. I have heard it being compared to a warm hug. Sometimes you need a kick in the pants. You smell that beautiful aroma that tells you the day has just started, and you are still as strong as you were yesterday. Get your ass up and try again.

No warm hugs for you today.

Isn’t that what friends do on a bad day?

A warm hug. Yes, that too. Im, not the hugging type. I need someone to tell me to stop being a baby and get it done. I need someone to tell me to stop feeling sorry for myself. Who can do that better than the bitter, sweet, hotness that is my first cup of coffee?

Oh yes, I have made actual human friends over cups of coffee too. The few that I cherish have been over the beverage of our choice. That is why it’s hard to imagine now having friends without this beautiful liquid.

What I’m trying to say and failing at explaining is that have you noticed how many of our friendships and hangouts depended on coffee, chai/tea(same word, different language)? We have forgotten how to communicate since we don’t have the option to sit down over a hot beverage. I have a cup of coffee next to me as I type, and I feel like I can’t get through writing this without taking a few sips of this magical serum. This is what we call coffee culture. That was my point, I think. When I started drinking coffee, it was those late nights and early mornings that every student has to deal with. Then came work and married life where you have to work and deal with those pesky life issues where people want from you, and their wants mean you need to be alert after that children. Now coffee is a matter of survival, honestly. Just give me an IV at this point. This is not about fun and sitting around with my friends, sipping on something, and discussing my problems and current events. This is how I open my eyes. I hope and pray the kids don’t wake up before I finish my first cup. Then the rest of the cups are taken in between trying to help them with homework and finishing my work like right now.

Somehow some genius saw the value in it for people like us. They decided that those of us who need it to survive could go-to place to catch a break. Now coffee shops are places where we go to find our solitude and escape from the world…or used to go to.

When that world that we are trying to escape is the world we have to embrace fully, and the people we go to for solitude are unavailable, all we have left of the coffee culture is coffee. How do we talk to people without coffee shops and coffee? Just people? That’s a little strange, don’t you think?

I have found a friend in the beverage itself. Nevertheless, the smarter thing to do would be to make yourself a cup of coffee and video call a friend. Maybe remind them to make themselves a cup of chai or coffee first, too. Im sure its better than drinking alone.