Coffee Beeswax

I'm sitting in a coffee shop with half a bagel and a full cup of coffee. I'm sitting at the bar facing the front window looking out at a gorgeous sun-filled day and the sun is glaring back in at me. The coffee is steaming right underneath my chin and it is so fresh that there is still a plethora of oxidizing bubbles surfing on the surface.

I look down into my coffee and see to my surprise, myself looking back at me. The sun is just right and the angle is just so. I see a thousand versions of myself in the reflection of each and every bubble. A honeycomb of me that moves in unison. With the black of the coffee as a background and my black sweater's collar creeping into the field, I feel like I'm in a music video of the 1980's but one thousand times over. It's like a series of parallel universes in which I am performing the beginning scene of Bohemian Rhapsody. Or at the very least, a Peter Gabriel video.

And of course, being who I am, I feel the need to start making funny faces in the reflections.

Now the bubbles have migrated to the sides of the cup. You'd think that would ruin it, but it only makes it better. Now there is a huge reflection of myself in the pool of coffee in the middle surrounded by a multitude of bubbles hugging the lip of the mug still reflecting a thousand versions of myself. Of course at this point, I start singing the beginning of Bohemian Rhapsody into my coffee cup. The people here must think I'm insane...and they'd be right!

Drink your Coffee Black

Coffee is meant to be black. If you need to put milk and sugar into coffee to be able to drink it, then why are you drinking it? There are plenty of ways to get caffeine into your bloodstream outside of coffee. I'm not even getting into the caramel, quadshot, half-foam, skim, skinny macchiato frappucino with whipped cream, almonds, hot fudge, and a cherry on top. I mean regular coffee with milk and sugar.

Why don't people put other taste altering things into other drinks to make them palatable? Just because liking coffee can be fashionable? What if it was cool to like orange juice and you didn't like the taste of oranges? Could we make it normal to put maple syrup and ice cream in it?

Coffee is meant to be acidic and bitter. Just like alcohol is meant to burn. But instead we have frappucinos and schnapps.