Daily Exercise: What’s with Coffee?

Random thoughts this morning

Right now I’m sitting upstairs in Another Café, sipping on a medium Macchiato. I’ll admit that I’m not that critical of coffee tasting so I’m trying different types to get a better appreciation. If I had to analyze why I never tried before, I could list the immediate reason: I never really understood the morning ritual of waking up to grinding coffee beans and beginning a day with the caffeinated boost.

Theoretically, I can understand the concept: a productive day can be tolling and having the proper energy and mindset to prepare is self-explanatory. I can also understand the aberrant days in which I have woken up completely abject lacking motivation and was complete with lethargy. Just today, I was so backwards that I thought it was still Sunday. However, the concept of continuously incorporating the practice of using coffee as a means to the end of fully “waking up” seems bizarre still. In particular, how do you delineate this practice from being conditioned? When drinking coffee in the morning becomes synonymous with the concept of awakening, the appeal of coffee seems to be a romanticized idea of the pursuit of having a perfect morning, robust with vitality and alacrity. Perhaps I’m a pessimist but the requirement to have a truly perfect morning is overwhelming in the effort needed. In particular, how do you rate a morning as better than another morning? For one, most mornings are just the routines of going through the motions of preparing for the day. While there might be a bit more variation on weekends, the average morning ritual for the good majority of people will be always the same and a practiced rite. As such, it becomes the ordinary and ingrained. For me, a morning that relies on coffee to truly approach perfection is incomprehensible.

Another reason I don’t quite understand the coffee culture is that the effects of the caffeinated boost are easily remedied by a period of respite or sleep. Of course there are sporadic moments in which there is simply no chance to recover. (i.e. studying for finals or relentlessly finishing a project that is close to its deadline) However, these are very erratic most of the time. When people start listing the caffeine as the energy that they need to be alert for the day, I can’t help but wonder why don’t they find the other alternatives?

Now having said this, I’d like to clarify that this post is not to knock off those that identify with this culture. I am increasingly becoming aware of the adage of don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. I indulge in cigarettes and alcohol so I won’t pretend to assume a higher authority position on being above rituals. However, I would like to further learn about critical tasting of coffee so I’ll be sure to follow up on what I learn.