I drink a lot of coffee. Just regular coffee. Not Starbucks or coffee flavored milk. Just coffee. I carry a thermos with me on the train and I usually fill it at the house, but sometimes I fill it at the convenience store because it's, well, convenient. Most places just charge for the price of a refill, so I can fill up my thermos for less than $1.
Coffee has fueled America for the last 150 years or so, but lately I've noticed a shift in the culture of coffee. With the meteoric rise of mocho-late-chinos, Monsters and Toro Rojo caffeine is still ever present, but some recent experiences have me wondering if plain ol' coffee is fading into the sunset of Americana history.
"You filled that up with coffee?", the new CEFCO clerk asked me with a look of confusion.
"Yeah."
"What is that, like a coffee jug or something?"
"Yeah, I guess so. It's just a thermos."
"And you can fill it up with coffee and it'll keep it hot?"
"Yeah," said I as it occurred to me that this guy thought that he was seeing a new invention, the latest in hot beverage technology.
"So you can like, just take it where ever, and have coffee with you, huh?"
"Yep."
"Man, that's awesome. I'm going to have to tell my grandpa about that. He likes to go fishing at night. It would be cool to be able to take some coffee with us and fish all night."
"I bet he already knows about it. They've been around a while."
"Really?"
"Yep."
Two weeks later .....
Another CEFCO clerk looks at my thermos with confused admiration.
"So you fill that up with coffee and you can have it to drink all night."
"Yeah."
"And that thing keeps it hot?"
"Yeah."
"And you just drink it out of there?"
"No, I have a cup."
"How long does it stay hot?"
"Till I drink it."
This answer confused her and concluded our transaction.
Two days later.....
4:00 am in Ft Worth. On the way to work we stopped at the Whataburger to get breakfast. I ordered a breakfast combo meal.
I was handed a cup along with my orange order number thing so I went to the beverage station and soon discovered that there was no coffee to be found. I returned to the counter and noticed that the coffee pots behind the counter were empty and cold. The gal who had taken my order was busy talking on the drive-thru headset, so asked another guy if they had any coffee made.
"There should be," he replied, showing no interest in finding coffee for me.
"I know there
should be, but it doesn't look like there is," I said as he walked away ignoring me.
The girl finished on the headset and asked with a look of annoyance, "You want coffee?"
"Yes ma'am. That's what I ordered," I said gesturing to the big picture of the #21 breakfast-on a-bun combo complete with a steaming cup of joe. "And if I paid for it, I'd like to have it."
"Why do you want coffee?"
"I don't know," my frustration growing, "I just do."
"Yeah, but why do you like it?"
She had found one of those coffee urns with the pump top and was checking to see if it had any coffee left inside.
I through my hands up in frustration. "Fine, if you don't want me to have coffee then I don't have to have it. You can just give me some orange juice or something."
"I'd have to charge you extra."
I just sighed and said nothing.
"I just want to know why you want coffee."
"It's 4:00 in the morning. I'm going to work. It helps me wake up. It tastes good, feels good, and I like it with my breakfast."
I guess my answer was satisfactory, because she pumped enough coffee out of the urn to fill my cup and handed it back to me. I stepped away from the counter, took a sip and almost spewed it out of my mouth. Lukewarm coffee is nasty.
I returned to the counter to find her speaking to the drive-thru mic again. When she finished, she acknowledged me with a look of confusion as I set the cup down. "Your coffee is cold, can I just get a coke?" ........
