Coffee?

"A lot can happen over coffee"

- Cafe Coffee Day tagline

"As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?”

― Cassandra Clare, American Author (born 1973), in 'City of Ashes'

“I don't really like coffee, she said, but I don't really like it when my head hits my desk when I fall asleep either. ”

― Brian Andreas, American writer (born 1956)

“Her love was like cigarette smoke stirred into coffee. I drank it so fast it made me cough, but she’s not offering a refill at any price.”

― Jarod Kintz (American author, born 1982), Love quotes for the ages, specifically ages 18-81.

"Give Me Coffee and No One Gets Hurt!"

- Unknown

"Black as the devil, Hot as hell, Pure as an angel, Sweet as love"

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, French diplomat (1754-1838)

(image source: hdwallpaperbackgrounds.net)

There is a lot about coffee, isn't it? What is it about this drink which makes it the among the most loved and glamorous than its more consumed and much older cousin, the tea?

It is said that as against four billion cups of tea consumed worldwide daily, only two billion cups of coffee are consumed every day. But why is the usage of coffee prevalent in everyday lingo and is romanticised as against tea despite the latter beating the former by two times to one when it comes to consumption? You have coffee pubs, coffee bars and coffee shops. You have everyday usages attached to coffee ('Wake up and smell the coffee', for example). Tea? You tell me!

Before that, some history. From where did coffee originate?

Coffee is supposed to have originated from Yemen, West Asia in the 15th century.  According to legend, a goatherd named Kaldi discovered these coffee beans in Ethiopia after he found that his goats became very brisk after eating the coffee beans. By the 16th and 17th centuries, coffee had moved to Persia and then Europe, with coffee houses being opened. Coffee plantations came to Asia in the early 18th century with the Dutch colonisation of Indonesia and to South America through French settlements in Brazil. Incidentally Brazil is the largest producer of coffee in the world. Instant coffee was invented by David Strang in New Zealander in 1889. Coffee came to India in the 18th-19th centuries. Most coffee in India is grown in Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. Today, India is the 6th largest producer of coffee in the world.

There is a lot of debate surrounding coffee vs tea, mainly on the health side. It is not that coffee is unhealthy or such - it has its own nutrients - but tea seems to be winning all the brownie points when it comes to a debate between which is the more healthy drink with words like amino acids, anti-oxidants etc being bandied about. Further, the caffeine in coffee is not supposedly great for repeated cups in a day and hence you even have something like decaffeinated coffee (Decaffeinated coffee? I would rather go without coffee rather than drink something like that!). Caffeine is the 'stimulant' in coffee which supposedly gives you the energy boost (which the goatherd observed among his goats?). It is present in coffee bean naturally and gives the bitter taste to it.

I personally find coffee a more stimulating drink than tea, any day. Perhaps my South Indian roots are contributory to this. We make the best filter coffee in the world. That I also do love instant coffee (blasphemous!) and sometimes machine-brewed coffee ('eeks' to many!) is another issue. I never find tea a drink that would stimulate me at all. I do drink tea but coffee conjures a different world for me altogether.

A very tough day at home, at work -wherever, everything can be taken care of with one hot cup of coffee. Just one wonderful hot cup of coffee. If I am down, piping hot coffee can actually do something good to me. It really gives me the 'kick'! 'Coffee' and my face lights up. Oh yes, to stay awake! To stay awake, hot coffee is the best bet.

And hey, we even have 'cold' coffee! 'Cold' tea? Ah, even the name sounds cold! That's only fit for the bin!

Coffee and romance! What an unbeatable combination!

Imagine an evening at a coffee bar with a loved one with the last rays of the sun giving way to electric lighting - can you say the same with tea? Think of tea and I can never find a more equal ambience. Asfar as 'tea joints' go, I can only remember Chai Point on Residency road in Bangalore. But no, that is not ambience. When I think of tea, I can only think of office, roadside shops and hotels. Sigh! Just look at coffee and you have Cafe Coffee Day, Starbucks, Barista Lavazza and so on. Yes, the prices of various variants of coffee - decaf, latte, cappuccino etc. is real fancy, but at these places you don't pay just for the coffee - it is the ambience and perhaps, the time. 

Coffee is amazing. With romance, it is pure magic. We have coffee time romance. Whether it is marketing or otherwise, coffee and romance as a combination are here to stay. Do we have tea time romance? Well, sorry! 

Yes, a lot can actually happen over coffee!