More Coffee?

One morning while visiting my friend Evan Farris in Virginia many many years ago, I woke up and drank some coffee and all seemed well. Several hours later, though, my head started pounding. What was going on? Mercifully, I rarely get headaches, and not since high school finals have I experienced full-blown migraines; by noon on the first full day of my visit with Evan, though, it felt like my brain was headed back in that direction. It finally dawned on me: "Evan," I asked after drinking half a pot to no effect, "is this decaf?"

Sure enough -- the Devil's blend, decaf coffee. Sends you straight to hell if you're a full-leaded coffee addict, as I am. We immediately went out to the nearest coffee-serving joint, which happened to be a McDonalds, and within an hour of guzzling a couple cups of the real stuff, my splitting headache disappeared.

Here's my truth: since seventeen years old, I've never missed at least one cup of coffee every single day.

Sure, it's clearly a phsyical and psychological addiction, but at least I rarely get headaches.

I like virtually any kind of coffee, black or with creamer makes little difference. Black is best if it's top shelf and well-ground: my ideal is perfectly concocted (someone else doing the work) Italian roast, or French roast. Doesn't really matter, ultimately, whether it's Italian roast in Italy or French roast in France or just plain old 7-11 DARK in a paper cup, as long as it's coffee. A coffee a day keeps the headaches away. In fact, coming from a family that's part Swedish, part French, part German, part Walloon, and parts God knows what else European or otherwise, many of us are big coffee drinkers, especially me and my sister Vickie and my Dad, at least before his major heart surgery last year. Some people prefer tea, but not me. I tried a tea phase along with vegetarian phases, but coffee cannot (for me) be replaced by anything. Soda (or Pop as Midwesterners say) is a poor substitute and has too much sugar anyway.


Who likes coffee? The photo above is from the droll Jim Jarmusch film, Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), with Iggy Pop and Tom Waits (not exactly looking their Sunday finest, but very them). It's an uneven but sometimes fun look at people babbling over coffee and smokes. Worth checking out in small doses.

In addition to the top shelf la-de-da stuff, I like Chock full o' Nuts and am drinking some during writing pauses -- like now!

Chock full o' Nuts used to have eateries all around the New York City area; in diminished numbers, they still exist, but mostly in outlying areas from Manhattan. Relatively inexpensive cans of the stuff made for home coffee makers are widely available, even in Detroit.

Bon appetit!