brunswickanopinion
8 • Sept. 9, 2009 • Issue 1 • Volume 143
Students and coffee: a love-hate relationship Nick Howard The Brunswickan
Each first year student, along with orientation packages and mounds of condoms and free advice, should receive one warning: beware the black drink. Coffee, the best and worst friend of a student, provides comfort and energy as often as a caffeine hangover. I offer my experience with coffee in the hope that it will serve as an example to those beginning their discovery of the student’s best and worst friend. Coffee and I have an interesting and somewhat complex relationship. Rarely do we take a break, though a clean split has occurred a few times before when the jitters reminded me I’ve had too much. I often worry that java will impair rather than aid my exam preparation. Currently, I’m in deeper than ever before, which has led me to ask some questions: Do I learn more about my favourite beverage? Do I seek the perfect cup from the comfort of my own home? (I’ve done the cafe-hopper scene – seeking high and low, near and far, for the perfect combination of java and ambiance.) But when does a hobby become an obsession? When does casual interest become infatuation? On a student budget, with a student palate, much is possible from the comfort of home;
just don’t get in too deep. Making and drinking coffee can be a romantic venture. The presentation, the differences in taste, the variance of milks, creams and sugars each play a role. Espresso, macchiato, lungho, cappuccino; the words roll around in your mouth like the product itself. Tasting the espressos to come and excited by the adventure of starting my own little café in my kitchen, I hit the Fredericton streets in search of a supplier for my new addiction. I needed some premium beans and an espresso grind. From previous experience (during the last French Press phase of my coffee story) I knew that Paradise Imports was my best choice. (They source and roast their own beans, and their coffee will knock your socks off.) I left the store with more excitement, more bewilderment, but no coffee. I had just entered the world of Coffee with a capital C, and I feared I had unwittingly stepped off a cliff. I am no longer a coffee lover, I am a coffee fanatic. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The machine called out to me from amidst the clutter of an Italian garage sale (though the owners turned out to be German). Its shining chrome tubes and gaskets, its buttons and boiler reminded me of a sleek and sexy artist’s rendering of the first steam powered engine. Only Italian design could make me covet a steam powered engine. The espresso machine seemed like the perfect souvenir of a summer spent in Italy; indeed, my coffee breaks were delicious for my last few Tuscan weeks. And I could revel in the thought that I bought this gleaming
Doug Estey / The Brunswickan
Many students rely on coffee to stay awake and study for exams, or even just to wake up in the morning. Is this really the healthiest plan? article on my student’s budget. The Paradise Import beans are needed to power my new Italian dream machine and there are so many requirements in this new world of java-fanaticism that coffee has ceased to be a simple cup-of-joe. I beg of you coffee, don’t go the way of other pursuits that I have loved, become fanatical about and lost. Sure, I’ve been told I need a grinder, and
that I need to rewire my whole house to make my new, comely Italian espresso machine work in North America. That doesn’t mean you have to sit there and gather dust, with my old tennis racquet and the other detritus of lost loves. There must be a way for us to be together without the fuss and the gadgets. My French Press still presses, and my espresso machine works without beans ground fresh
ten seconds before use. While neither will live up to the pressure of a purist’s palate, neither, sadly, will I. Like most things in life, a cup of coffee is either good, or it’s art. Coffee can’t be both. I don’t like to taste my art; I want to appreciate my coffee. First years, I leave you with some simple wisdom: moderation is the key, in the consumption, expense and obsession with the student’s favourite drink.