Yep, there it is. That’s the look. The one I get when I order coffee: the dreaded raised eyebrow look.
Why? What is so queer about having hot coffee in the summer? Can someone explain it to me, please? Is it like wearing white after Labor Day? Is there a coffee season? Does it go against etiquette and decency and all that’s holy to enjoy a hot beverage after, say, June? Is that it?
Well, excuse me for living.
I don’t like cold coffee. It tastes stale, like leftovers or carelessness. What cold coffee needs is a gum-popping waitress to come along and say, ‘Want me to warm that up for you?’ It sure doesn’t deserve to be on a menu board under the heading Iced Drinks, it just doesn’t. There’s nothing refreshing about it.
And those la-di-da, foofy things — the frappés and mocchaccinos and iced coffee concoctions? They’re more Dairy Queen than Starbucks if you ask me, all sugar and syrup and calories. Where’s the coffee? Hello, caffeine? Yoo-hoo? There’s no jolt, no buzz, but you’re definitely flirting with brain freeze. From coffee. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the definition of crazy.
Heck, just holding a frappuccino chills your poor hand to the bone. You could be sweating like a beer bottle, but that one hand will have frostbite unless it’s mittened. Plus, you’ll need a straw, qualifying your frosty coffee treat as an umbrella drink — minus the liquor, of course. Who wants an umbrella drink without the alcohol? Ditto for unheated coffee confections.
Okay, ready for the clincher? Hot beverages have cooling powers. I’m serious, why do you think tea drinking is so popular in hot spots like India? It has something to do with thermosensors located in the stomach triggering the hypothalamus in the brain, very scientific stuff I can’t begin to understand. What it boils down to is: our bodies overreact to the hot drink and we wind up cooler in the process. Tada.
So see? I’m not batty. I’m simply making the practical choice. Surprise, eh?
Now, stop giving me the fish eye when I have my coffee. And I won’t point and laugh when you have a cold beer during the Super Bowl. Deal? Deal.
Copyright © 2014 Publikworks
the whirly girl 
14 responses to “: hot coffee in August? :”
I’m with you on this one. I like my coffee hot, black and straight up. In other words, I like my coffee to be…coffee.
It is true I enjoy those frappe things or an occasional cappuccino ice cream but as you say they are for desert from DQ.
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See? And, as I’ve said before, yours is the voice of reason. So the next time someone gives me the stink eye for ordering hot coffee I’m going to invoke your name — ‘silk purse said hot coffee is perfectly okay. So there.’
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Just so you know…you are the only person in the universe who thinks I am the voice of reason, but hey go for it.
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I get that ‘you’re the only person who … ‘ an awful lot. I’m used to it.
But your comments always seem very well-reasoned and thoughtful. And you present your thinking clearly and logically. I admire those qualities. I’m all over the place, zigging and zagging, round and round, until I forget what I was talking about.
I stand by my belief.
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I totally feel this one. I love my hot coffee way more than the cold ones. And I always experience that look on people when I am sipping my hot coffee in a hot boiling day. ^^
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Stay strong, gerrytology! Just look right back and keep on sipping. I’m pulling for you.
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Ice in everything is typically an American thing…ask for ice in Europe and they’ll think you’re nuts.
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Well, you know, I’ve gotta go with the Europeans on this one. They have a longer, richer history with coffee than we do. But in the Great Sno-Cone debate? We’re number one! We’re number one!
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In NYC, drinking hot coffee all year round is the norm, even when it reaches 100 degrees. Your people are over here! Come join us!
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So that’s where you all are hiding. I’m on my way, doodle, put on the coffee :o)
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I’ll make sure it’s piping hot! :)
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You’re the best.
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Amen!
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Brava!
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