Coffee

There was a time when I drank six or more cups of cheap instant coffee every day. I'm ashamed to say I drank so much of the stuff but I'm less ashamed to say it was cheap, sawdusty instant. My palate was undeveloped and undemanding, I was probably much the same. The world was a different place. We wonder why our kids are entitled but have we looked at the way we drink coffee?

This week my daughter attended a first aid course. One of the attendees returned from the lunch break 20 minutes late, take away coffee in one hand and phone in the other. She wasn't learning much and she didn't even notice when the instructor sarcastically reprimanded her. She was wasting her own time, wasting her money on the course, disrespecting the class and making a mockery of the whole idea of first aid. These people always existed, of course, but the addiction to coffee which many of us have in common seems to mean we are more forgiving, knowing that we might do the same.

At work we have an espresso machine. It is a hungry beast and I admit I am often found wanting in it's upkeep. The coffee grounds spill within the machine, I forget to descale it, the coffee is sometimes barely lukewarm and on rare occasions the milk in the attached milk fridge goes off. Even with both of our foibles, the machine makes an ok-ish coffee: warm, coffee tasting, caffeinated and not ever bitter.  In case anyone isn't happy with the espresso machine I also stock instant coffee, tea bags & leaf tea as well as a range of herbal teas. The choice (and frankly the quality) in the offering is better than I have seen ever before but when we had a class in a couple of weeks back, the class co-ordinator made a "coffee run" to the local shops, bringing back a raft of take away coffees individualised for each student.

In a country where we do little manufacturing, preferring to buy cheap slave made goods from China, Bangladesh or some other place where the people look different, we refuse to pay extra for Australian made goods but we can spend $5 or even $10 a day on coffee. Imagine how many industries, artists or charities could be supported with that kind of budget. (Well, I guess we'd leave a lot of baristas out of work but  they are probably all struggling artists anyway)

My biggest problem with coffee comes when at I look at it's use in the church context. When I see people who can't afford to financially support their church drinking expensive coffee, when I see people arrive late to services because they have been buying coffee, when I see the old ladies of the congregation cheerfully provide hospitality in the form of free coffee which is rejected because it's not fresh, single origin, packed in a cardboard cup, barista made joe. I wonder how much time we spend chasing the perfect coffee, time which could be spent in prayer or reflection or offering hands on help. If our priorities are shown in the way we spend money and time, we are worshipping in the cathedral of coffee but not building anything of beauty.

Secular society, of course, has no particular theology or ideology which is at odds with coffee drinking, whatever extreme it might take, so I can't criticise there but I do sometimes think we are drinking coffee, talking about coffee, driving to get coffee, making memes about coffee and spending money on coffee while ignoring the crises which surround us.

Bring back the tea pot, the urn, the dusty instant or even the plunger. Let's subvert coffee worship and find something else to do