There is nothing more frustrating than sitting in a café with an empty cup, after sucking down the last drop of coffee, or staring down at half a cup of tepid brew.
After all, you were in this thing for the experience of enjoying your nice cup of coffee and the cup is only half-full and what is left in there is cold and yucky! Are you a half-empty or half-full coffee drinker? Well, from this old tin head’s vantage point, I can go both ways. I used to look down and say, “Wow, my cup is half-empty, cold and yucky…. I will stare down the waiter until they see me and refill.” Fast-forward a few years and now, I am so into this delicious bold stuff, that when I look down and see my half-full cup I say, “Whoa dude! I still have some left!” No matter what the temperature, I gulp it down thankfully, then I sigh. REAL LOUD, and say, “Ahhhhhh….. THAT was GOOD!” This has been a life-changer! Heck, it’s a java changer!
If you ever go without coffee for a day or two, you know the pain. This is especially true if you are a REAL POTHEAD. Once during my old mundane life as an office worker, with no real friends or connections, I survived solely on various forms of coffee. I lived, ate & breathed this stuff! (Believe me, breathing coffee can be a painful experience too!) I would even chew beans just to, to stay awake! Daily life was work, coffee and me. A very lonely, sad me.
REAL POTHEADS crave more. They crave connection. They crave creative interaction and collaboration. They crave a lifestyle of sharing and caring. They crave community. You see, some people think if you live, eat and breathe coffee it’s enough. There is much more to the coffee ritual. Coffee alone is not enough. It’s the experience of sipping that “Cup ‘O Jo”, together. A coffee experience- it’s someone to share that ambiance, and special blend with…sharing the love.
Why is coffee not enough? It is because community is why we love coffee. We associate a sense of belonging when we commune over coffee. Do we ever say, “Hey, it was great talking to you, lets get together for Milk sometime?” Or what about, “I’d really like to get to know you better. Wanna meet for beer?” Ok yeah, we’ll go talk over a beer, (and Loud music) but we don’t say, “Let’s meet for beer, or wine.” (In that case, it’s “Let’s head over to the bar and have a drink,” or something like that.) No, when we really want to talk, we say “Coffee.” Coffee is safe. Coffee culture is safe, and predictable and- it’s family-friendly. Coffee is where you go when you really want to know someone.
For example, if you want to get to know a gal/guy with a cute kid, and you don’t want exclude the kid, do you invite him/her for beer or wine? Of course not! We don’t take kids to bars! But we do meet some pretty fantastic people with kids. Let’s get real; if the guy/girl that you are attracted to has a kid, they are a package deal, so my suggestion is: get-to-know them together! Over Coffee. Of Course.
Indulge me while I roast a rant on this; I have some brew-worthy advice. Keep it platonic until you know you know you are diggin’ the entire package! If this person is a single parent, the little bean has already been through some tough roasting times; a huge break up of his/her family, and if you are just into the mom/dad, and not the kid, then you are being a selfish jerk, and they don’t need you! Your kind of brew is just gonna make trouble, and leave a nasty sludge behind. Nobody likes sludge in the cup! Find someone with no “baggage” as so many of you call people with kids. Single parents don’t need another crappy cup of Jo!. It’s worse than yesterday’s coffee with curdled cream! There are plenty of selfish jerks out there preying on single parents, don’t be THAT person. Find a coffee shop and get to know the famiy. You might be surprised! (Pleasantly I hope!)
Yep! Rise above the grinds and consider what you have to offer in a situation like that. You may have way more of what this broken family needs than what YOU want out of that family. There is something to being needed. Everyone NEEDs that! The family has been through one carafe breakage, don’t create another break-up in that family, and by all means, NEVER come between a parent and their child.
Be a caring and sharing Pothead. Live up to the love, and the care we try to foster here at Potheads…A Coffee Experience. That is where we come into play; you can meet that single parent on safe, non-threatening grounds, see if you want to risk your heart on this family, then if not, you can walk away without much drama-when it’s a cup of coffee. And hey, there are no stupid hung-over mornings looking at someone you thought was someone else, or putting some single parent through a bad time!
Yes, this is just one more reason that coffee culture has its own worldwide community. You can go to coffee, it is inexpensive, you don’t feel obligated after coffee, but you may feel enriched, enlightened, or enveloped in love. Or heck, maybe you will WAKE UP! You can even buy your friend’s kiddos hot cocoa or an Italian soda! Or, like me-just give ‘em a cup of latte, some kids drink coffee already anyways! Don’t be a buffoon! Take a chance on people. I met my sweet Audrey this way and it has been a dream, and I now have a great son, Tommy. Yes, I give him lattes.
Our Coffee House will be called, “Potheads…A Coffee Experience” for this very reason. We want the “experience” to be something you always come to in a positive and helpful way. So go now, go- GET ROASTED! and share love, even when your coffee is crappy, or in need of a refill. Hug that person serving it, even if your “hug” is saying, “I could just hug you, this coffee hits the spot.” Have a delightfully fresh ground week, and fill your cup with LOVE.