Coffee

---

I’m drinking coffee as I write this. It’s a decaf coffee though, because it’s 6 p.m. on a school night, and I need to wake up at the crack of kindergarten.

---

---

Still, I think it’s only fair that this ode to coffee is written with at least some caffeine streaming through my system. There’s a certain honesty to it. And I sure do like coffee.

---

---

Coffee is my companion, my muse, my guide. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s my North Star, but the idea of buying a cup of it does get me out the door on a Sunday morning.

Contrary to popular belief (based on how much I draw about coffee) I don’t drink more than a cup or two a day. They say write what you know, though, and I do drink it. In fact, a cup of coffee is usually sitting in front of me as I brainstorm ideas for cartoons. Because nothing is better! The first sip. The caffeine high, the caffeine crash. I’ll strap into that ride any day. Especially while I’m staring off into the distance wondering if a frog lies down on a log when it goes to therapy.

I’ve even dabbled in making my own coffee at home! Filters, french presses, instant, I’ve tried it all! Here’s a coffee cartoon of mine in this week’s New Yorker.

---

And I know, I know, everyone has their own blend, their own way to make it, their own preference. Some people don’t even drink coffee and make sure you know it. To each their own!

---

---

If I were to ever write an autobiography (titled: No Worries If You Don’t Read It), I’d split my life into two distinct parts: Before Coffee and After Coffee. I grew up having my parents drink coffee but never drinking it myself, even into adulthood. Even as a new teacher! It wasn’t until I got serious about sitting around (and drawing cartoons) that I dipped my toe into the magical earth-toned liquid. It turned out that, as I mentioned above, I loved lounging at coffee shops doodling. And the caffeine! It’s even worth all the coffee shop distractions!

---

Another New Yorker cartoon of mine

---

There’s nothing like finding the perfect spot at the perfect cafe. It’s so much fun to discover new places too, with different aesthetics, different blends, and different white noise from the murmuring patrons. Once I discovered my love of coffee and cafes, the rest was history. I even sat around long enough at Birch Coffee that I ended up designing a cup for them.

---

In fact, coffee cup art is fun! This one was with my friend, Rachel.

---

This one was while all my friends were out skiing and I was in the lodge, you guessed it, drinking coffee.

---

---

As with any relationship, coffee and I have had our ups and downs. During the pandemic, I quit coffee for a few months as an experiment to see if it was giving me anxiety. It turned out to be the pandemic.

---

---

And my coffee order has changed over the years. I’ve been on my cappuccino kick, my latte liaison, my cold brew rendezvous, and even an on-again, off-again medium coffee with room for milk thing. But in the end, coffee has always been there for me. Once, during my lunch break at school, I downed a cappuccino too quickly and then taught all my students how to read in an afternoon. There’s nothing coffee can’t do for you, besides your taxes. Trust me, I just tried.

---

I draw a lot of New Yorker coffee-related cartoons.

---

I won’t really get into the health conversation here. Is a cup of coffee a day good for you? Bad for you? Maybe coffee isn’t your cup of tea? I don’t know.

---

---

It’s a part of my culture. Without coffee, how would I be able to say “let’s grab a coffee soon” to a friend and never do! How would I bump into friend at the coffee shop that didn’t expect to see! If you think the “water cooler” chat at work is great, it’s nothing compared to the coffee machine convo. (It’s mostly grunts.) And has the thought that as soon as you go to bed you can wake up and have a coffee ever been the only thing to get you into bed? No? Me either. That’s silly. But enough about me.

---

---

Whatever you do, however you do it, make coffee your own, even if you’re not making it on your own. Enjoy it. Savor it. Have another.

Thank you for reading! And have a wonderful weekend!

-Avi Steinberg