Over the past two weeks I've avoided coffee. The main reason is that at my occupational habitat soft drinks are provided gratis, and I've been taking advantage of the opportunity to give my wallet a break. Additionally, the nearby coffee shop is a bit crowded both when I get to work, and during lunch, so walking over to the fridge has been the path of least resistance. But I was having some issues with a task at work which seemed (at the time) insoluble, so I caved and purchased a small 16 ounce coffee. As I put it to my mouth I was taken to a different, more affluent land, and as the odor of coffee beans ground and diluted in tap water percolated up to my nostrils I felt as if I'd climbed up a notch in the socioeconomic ladder. I hadn't realized how close the associations between the smell & taste of coffee and Bobohood were to me, but today I found out! Soft drinks clearly have low rent assocations, so the next step is to convince my bosses to purchase a coffee machine so that I feel like the professional I am without having to spend my hard-earned money.
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I think coffee's too common to be Bobo in general... if you look at the TV ads for Starbucks' two lines available in grocery & convience stores, one is geared towards yuppies: the Double Shot espresso -- tag line from the song "I move the e-con-o-my" (an older ad showed some yuppie getting pepped up for a high-powered corporate interview to the tune of Eye of the Tiger). The other is geared towards... I dunno, boring middle America people: the Frappuccino -- current ad shows three middle america character vignettes (frazzled two-job woman, frazzled stay-at-home mom, and crushed by the weight of the world middle management stiff).
Accordingly, the Frappuccinos, if bought in the four-packs, are much cheaper than the Double Shot espressos (I haven't bought soda in forever, but I assume the cost per unit is fairly similar, while the Double Shots are about $1.50 or $2.00 per unit). The caffeine in the former ranges from 80 to 96 mg, while the espressos have 130 mg. By comparison, a Red Bull has 80 mg. So unless you need a freakish amount of caffeine, you can get Frappuccinos and get the taste (flavored or not) of coffee plus much more caffeine than a soda, for +/- the same price as a soda. So, no conspicuous consumption implied.
It is not the drinking of the coffee; it is his ability to appreciate it on such a sophisticated level, that makes it a boboism.
I agree with Joseph on the last post. I grew up in a highly coffee-fueled blue-collar family, started drinking the stuff at 13, and have never stopped.
As for appreciating it on a sophisticated level, though, I'm probably just middling. I like it ground some time within recent memory, and freshly filtered or pressed. Then again, I do put soymilk and sugar in it, and the day I can tell a Kenya AA from a Guatemalan Antigua is probably the day I officially have too much time on my hands.
Razib. I will give you some heart-felt advice. Friend to friend.
There one thing even better than coffee. And that is coffee served by a pretty waitress.
Coffee machines - I don't think so.
dude, go w/ red bull or tab. coffee takes too much time to prepare and is weak anyway. you need legal amphetamines to code at a high level. :)
dude, go w/ red bull or tab. coffee takes too much time to prepare and is weak anyway. you need legal amphetamines to code at a high level. :)
we have that. but i go crazy on that crack and drink too much in one day....