Today, according to the calendar of the utterly trivial, is National Coffee Day. We are not beveragists here at t2. We do not think java is all jive. So celebrate, experience the contrast, enjoy a cuppa joe. Make it a good one, though, if this is truly the only day each year in which you indulge.
Many shops and restaurants are offering deals all over the country, and Stardrecks is launching its new instant coffee today. (Instant coffee? Lord. What is this, 1973?) One site even has a java-themed writing contest.
Then, enjoy reading this ol' chestnut: Malcolm Gladwell's excellent 2001 piece in the New Yorker, "Java Man." It includes a claim that the modern world was built on a foundation of caffeine, plus an amusing discussion of the dichotomy between the "coffee aspect" and the "tea aspect." It's like a horoscope of beverages, complete with chart. If you're reading this blog, I know which side you're on. Here's to being "decorous," "romantic" and "pure"!
The modern world was certainly built on tea but not at all on coffee. That's because it's all rooted in the Industrial Revolution. Tea did that. Coffee was nowhere to be found. Also, tea was at the center of the Consumer Revolution. Can coffee make that claim? Not in the least. So don't believe anyone talking about the merits of "caffeine." Read your history for yourself and you'll find it was tea from the start. --Teaternity
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