How Do You Like Your Coffee?
“Way too much coffee. But if it weren’t for the coffee, I’d have no identifiable personality whatsoever.” - David Letterman
Have you noticed? Everyone likes their coffee different:
…Cream and sugar.
…With skim milk.
…Black.
…Extra light with three Sweet & Low.
…Milk and six sugars.
…Hazelnut, with cream. No sugar.
(Or as my friend John jokes; “I like my coffee the way I like my women - cold and bitter.”)
I could sit here all day rattling off the countless ways people like the same thing - coffee.
One coffee - infinite possibilities.
Yet there’s only one way people like their coffee: the “right” way.
Isn’t that interesting?
My coffee might make you go “ew”.
Your coffee would make me say “blech.”
So who says we’re all supposed to like Picasso?
And why are you pressuring yourself to paint like Picasso, when what you should be doing is painting like you?
The “right” way.
The way you like it.
Spending your life trying to be like someone else, or trying to create like someone else, or doing what you think you should do instead of what you really want to do, is like drinking someone else’s coffee your whole life. (Cold and bitter indeed.)
If there was a chalkboard hanging over the counter here at Creative Journey Cafe, it would say “Today’s Wisdom” in big rainbow letters. And underneath those words, it would say:
“Be your own coffee!”
(Have a nice day. And if you’d like to add some sugar or cream to this post, leave a comment.)
When we were stereotypically broke students, we could sometimes only afford one cup of coffee between about four of us. Whoever had money to buy the coffee got to decide how to make it (i.e. according to their taste), so I learned to drink coffee any which way… black, with milk, with sugar, without sugar…
My own preference is with a dash of milk and one sugar, though if I’m very honest, the milk is just habit (I put so little in that with or without milk it tastes the same to me). The sugar, on the other hand, is very important ;). Hmmm, what do my coffee-drinking habits have to say about me?!
Coffee snob here…those who know me well know the daily routine…secret blend of dark beans, ground fine- moments before brewing, splash o’milk, 1 sugar. aah! In order for my coffee to taste right it MUST be served in my clay mug which was hand spun by Hatchville Potter Hollis Engley!
Have a fabulous day!
Mags - Damn, you guys were poor. But I’d say your coffee drinking habits suggest you are open minded and able to go-with-the-flow. (No extra charge for that.)
Anonymous - who are you, really? Hatchville is Cape Cod…hm….You make a mighty fine sounding coffee.
I’ll take it black, please.
And, YES, “I’ll be my own coffee”. I getting better at this everyday. Seems like sometimes it easy to try and conform to what the world, school, neighborhood, community, etc. expects. The more I grow and learn, the more I realize that the world is best served if we are “all our own coffee”. And we accept other coffees for what they are - unique coffees making the world a better place!
Hmmmm…join a coffee club at work and see if you get to drink coffee your way. Nope, it’s a total crap shoot…and sometimes it does taste like crap. But hey, you pays your money and you takes your chances. I like you analogy to life in general. My coffee of choice is espresso. It is all about slowing down and really enjoying life, and conversation. But sometimes I’ll drink plain old mundane coffee, and who can get through life without dealing with those mundane moments? Or an Irish coffee for that wicked sense of humour days. Or a Turkish coffee loaded with sweetened condensed milk for those times when you just want to be over the top decadent. And then there is that sludge at work, for when you are dealing with yet another 100 emails, 99 of which shouldn’t have had you on the send line to begin with. Yep, excellent analogy.
Hi Mark,
I’ll take mine black. And can you put that in a pretty mug? Maybe with a scone on the side? And while your at it…….
Great post, Mark
Interesting how one’s coffee preference (like their “art” - however expressed) is so personal - almost revealing something intimate about that individual.
How did Indiana Jones take his morning cup . . . or Yoda even?
Lance - well put! Easier to accept others for being their own cup o’ joe.
Urban Panther - I had my first Turkish coffee in - of all places - Turkey about a year ago. Loved it! Lotta kick. Unfortunately the waiter wasn’t allowed to read my fortune (from the leftover coffee grounds) because of a religious holiday.)
Barbara - you got it. Scone, pretty mug, etc.
JF - Nice. I think Indy would take his coffee black. (maybe with a little ‘whip’ cream. Yuk yuk.) And Yoda? Hm. Probably lots of cream for the Jedi master, since he doesn’t like it on the dark side.
I like my coffee from Starbucks : ]
love it, Mark. thanks.
i am my own coffee - no embellshments & doing as little harm as possible(am a camper from long back - so the more simple the better - organic and fair trade)!
does this make me picky?
Jenna - I won’t take that personally.
Lisa - I always thought you were a happy camper. Simple is always good!
Funny I’m drinking some coffee right now. I tried it a different way this time: iced with cream and a splash of chocolate syrup. Yummmm.
My biggest struggle has been when I wasn’t allowed to be myself to keep a job. The boss wanted a certain image and it wasn’t me. I like me better anyway. It’s more real.
Just came back from holidays and bought a sign I loved
Pic of an old fashioned ad from the 50’s reads:
COFFEE - you can sleep when you’re dead!
Smiles,
Hey, I just left this story in someone else’s comments… is copying it here wrong? Seems a propos… plus, coffee and pie = good stuff.
There once was a pie, and three monks were wanting to taste it. The first monk stuck his finger in and said, “This is the BEST pie I have ever tasted! It’s amazing! So sweet!” The second monk stuck his finger in and said, “Meh. It’s OK. Nothing special.” The third monk tasted it, and said, “Gah! This is *horrible*! It’s almost bitter!”
Which monk was right? Was one them right, and the others wrong?
It doesn’t matter which monk was right, whose tastebuds were most developed, etc. - we can just strive to be the pie! Just be who we are. Everyone may have differing opinions about us, and that’s OK. We can just be centered in who we are and what we do.