Coffee

No Wifi
Talk to each other!
Call your mom!
Pretend it’s 1993!
Live.

What a great sentiment. Much has changed in such a short time. I like that this coffee shop wanted to remind people that it wasn’t so long ago, this is how we lived.

I have one minor adjustment to the sign. I would add “Read a book” to the list.

And if the sign was true, picture walking by that coffee shop and looking in the window. In a small booth, a solitary figure has a book in one hand, coffee mug in the other. He’s immersed in the story, stylish glasses sliding slightly down his nose.

A group of four young women are at the table across from him. They are chatting, heads close together. A sound of laughter erupts from the circle and they reach for their cups, pausing from the easy camaraderie to take a sip. Once in awhile one of the girls glances over her shoulder at the man holding the book, checking him out. No one stops to look down at a phone or send a message.

At another table, two businessmen are having their morning coffee as they jot down notes for a meeting. They make eye contact, converse and nod, smiling as they are distracted by light sound of giggling as it travels across the room.

The place is alive with energy, not filled with silent pods of people—together or alone. No one is distracted by a text or call. They don’t have to stop midsentence in their story or ask someone to hang on for just one minute. The business meeting flows smoothly with no interruptions. The young man marks his place in his book as he slams it shut, ready to head for class. He gives a slow nod and an appreciative smile to the girls as he slides from the booth. The girls pretend not to notice, but the giggles begins anew.

You are still an observer, watching from the window. Suddenly you’re overwhelmed with a feeling. You just have to go in there, buy a cup of coffee and live like it’s 1993.

Whenever you go out for breakfast at a restaurant, the first thing they ask is if you want coffee. No one ever asks, “Tea?” Nope, it’s always coffee. What about us tea drinkers? We always have to say, “I’ll have tea, please.” Then you have to specify hot or cold, sweet or unsweetened because it’s served so many ways.

coffee

Funny, I should be a coffee drinker because I grew up surrounded by it. My mother always started up the coffee pot after family dinners so everyone could have coffee with their dessert. It was considered a sin if there wasn’t any to go along with the cake or pie that was served.

I love the smell of coffee. It’s a welcoming smell as if it’s saying come in and stay awhile. I’ll admit to drinking a caramel or mocha latte but true coffee drinkers would say that’s not the real thing. My son likes dark roasted coffees, the stronger and darker the better.

I can’t remember how or when I was introduced to tea. Maybe I had iced tea when I was younger but all I know is I prefer it over coffee. There’s nothing like a hot cup of tea on a cold morning. One of my favorites is English Breakfast and as a flavored tea, nothing can beat Peach Apricot.

My favorite tearoom closed recently and it left a large gap in my life. My sister and I had a standing reservation there. Every Friday we’d head to our cozy table to eat lunch, drink tea and solve world problems. Well, not really solve those problems but in a tearoom anything is possible!

Trying to find a replacement tearoom has been difficult. There are a few but none like that one. I still go to other tearooms because I’d miss the mismatched tea cups on each table and pouring the steaming tea into one of them. A tearoom takes you away from the real world for awhile and I can’t give that up.

When I write, I like to have a cup of tea nearby. It helps the thought process. I can lean back, take my cup in hand and think.

So given my choice in the great debate of coffee or tea, I’ll always have my answer ready. I’ll have tea, please.

Talk to Each Other

Coffee or Tea?