The Coffee Syndrome

What is the fascination with coffee? Everywhere I turn there is mocha, java, latte. Is Juan Valdez some sort of pusher? It's what intellectuals drink during their hefty discussions. What students imbibe to help them keep awake during late night cram sessions. What the common man mainlines to get jolted awake in the morning. The perfect after dinner desert companion. It's black, no sugar, skip-the-cream-you-sissy kind of stuff. Hip people on TV and in movies sitting around drinking mugs of steaming liquid. In books it is the natural choice of a night-cap to lure the unsuspecting in. At formal occasions these cups are placed before you as a natural assumption that everyone drinks coffee. For a quick get together someone suggests going out for coffee. There is coffee flavored cake. Coffee magazines and books. Coffee candy. SNL had a whole skit devoted to it. How about a nice cold coffee soda? A group devoted to a discussion of it. Coffee scented candles, just in case drinking the stuff is not enough and you need to be surrounded by the scent of it. There are stores devoted only to the mighty bean, with names like Java House, Cafe Du Monde, The Coffee Beanery, Starbucks. It's enough to drive a non-coffee drinker crazy! Is there any other beverage that has been so highly touted? Another which has spawned such a devoted following from old to young? I am not a coffee drinker. I like the smell of it, but prefer to have a nice "cuppa tea". My husband does not drink coffee either. We do have a coffee maker bought by my mother-in-law so she can indulge in her addiction when she visits. Just by having such a machine under my roof am I slowly being lured over to the dark side of the java bean? Will I give in to the pressure? Will I cave in to society's caffeine rush? Why is it that I hear Juan Valdez laughing? This is an entry of mine orginally posted elsewhere.