Coffee stands for comfort: On Americans' love of coffee

I bought a new automatic drip coffee maker recently. It was a pretty nice model from Black and Decker with a timer on it and everything. Cost $19.98 and it was worth every penny. I can't describe how excited I was about a simple pleasure like buying a new coffee maker. The reason for that is coffee stands for comfort. It's true. That first virgin voyage of my sleek new model I was supposed to make a pot of boiling h20 first to clean out all the dust and sediment that might have got stuck in the box after shipping but fuck that! I couldn't wait. First I ground the beans, then I filled the filter with the grounds, then I filled the carafe with water. Oh, what a spectacle! You see the water through the glass on the side of the machine, watch as it comes to a boil and steam starts to rise, then see that lovely black liquid pour into the carafe. It's American ingenuity at its finest. Except I don't think my coffee maker was made in America. It was made somewhere in Asia. I already recycled the box so I can't remember which country. Aren't the Japanese and the Chinese known for their love of tea? Oh, the delicious ironies of the modern world!

After you watch the automatic drip do its dripping, the next great enjoyment is the aroma. Even people who don't like coffee profess an adoration for the smell of coffee brewing. The last pleasure of the coffee ritual is of course the tasting. Yes I like cream and sugar in mine but it doesn't mean I don't like the taste too. The bitter with the sweet is an incredible combination. I don't drink a lot of coffee either. My body can't take a lot of caffeine. I get jittery, my heart races,  and I have to pee a lot. But I love the ritual of making coffee at home. I have friends who can drink two or three pots a day, regardless of the hour, and hardly feel it. But I'm not high-octane like my friend Bill. I'm a light-weight. I admit it. I just like the smell and the taste and the great American ritual. Coffee stands for comfort.

My mom tells this story (apocryphal but true) of how when she was pretty young, she made herself learn to enjoy coffee drinking. She started with a cup of milk and sugar, added just one teaspoon of coffee and drank it down. The second time she used the same ingredients but added a tablespoon of coffee. She kept adding more coffee till she developed a tolerance for the beautiful brown elixir. The reason she did this? Sandra (that's my mom, hi mom!) thought it was what made you a grownup. Coffee was a rite of passage to adulthood to her generation. I don't know if it is perceived that way to kids of today's generation. Starbucks and other coffee chains are so commonplace that having a cup of coffee seems pretty standard and not in any way elevating. And kids today..well don't get me started on kids today.

So I was trying to figure out when Americans' obsession with coffee began. It wasn't due to the proliferation of Starbucks, surely. I figure it coincided with the advent of television. I could be wrong. I don't have the luxury of a facts checker. I can't be bothered with doing research. No facts were harmed in the making of this subjective but non-manipulative piece of propaganda. But television probably had a lot to do with the acceleration of the coffee craze. There is this great Mystery Science Theater episode where the matronly mom makes like twelve pots of coffee over the course of the film. Again my facts may be a little off. But there is the pot before breakfast, the pot with breakfast, the post breakfast pot, and so on. And all the action in the film is the impetus to put on another pot. Till at the end there is some kind of tragedy. I think their son got hit by a car or something. Better put on a pot of the liquid that makes you edgy, nervous, and irritable. Perfect solution for an already sleepless night. Coffee stands for comfort.