Wake up and smell the coffee

It is not just Central Perk, focal point of many episodes of the hugely successful F*R*I*E*N*D*S, that started the coffee addict season.

Since the past many decades, whenever a guy has asked a girl out, or( as is increasingly becoming the case these days – hallelujah) the girl doing the asking, it is usually these words which mark an entry, “Would you like to go out for coffee sometime?”

Now, I have nothing against the beverage. In fact, I am more than partial to the heady smell of coffee (latte, cappuccino, espresso, frappe, mocha, caramel, or java chip – whichever, you name it), with the delicious aroma of some blueberry / walnut-choc muffins. Mmmmmm.

But the only question that has been “frothing” (pardon the pun) in my mind is, why is it that it is usually coffee that finds a mention when it comes to a first date. Why not tea? Why not a formal dinner?

Did a lil asking around – seems like different people have different sound bytes (but naturally).

While some say that coffee places / cafes are a dime a dozen, and found in almost every nook and corner of every urbane settlement (I mean, how many cha bars do you actually have, if we look at Delhi itself), there are others who opine that the “Westernness” of coffee scores over the more oriental tea.

Pshawww, the others butt-in. Coffee is the best social lubricant known to man. More so than a formal sit-down seven course meal can ever be. And coffee is like a boon on first dates. Imagine if the following happens to you:
a) you enter the pre-decided meeting place for that first date you have been looking forward to
b) order a meal
c) within five minutes, you size up the person sitting opposite you
d) you don’t like what you see / you don’t hit it off too well
e) you look around longingly at the people sitting around, offering a silent prayer to any of them to come to your rescue
f) no such luck. Nobody even gives you a second glance. Dismayed you thinks of other escape channels. You obviously can’t decide to do a marathon, and rush out before your date’s bewildered eyes.
g) The music is something that would make your teenage younger sister go what-in-the-friggin-world-is-that????
h) To make things worse, you’ve ordered a full meal.

What do you do then?

Slurp your soup noisily, wolf down the hors de oeuvres, stuff yourself with the cheesy steak, before looking pointedly at your Tissot, and then making a beeline for the exit point? Even that would take a good half-hour at least. To top it, you are probably at a swanky restaurant, and after that one particular incident, would be more than loath to make a repeat appearance to book a table there.

On the other hand, a coffee date, which goes awry, can be manageable. See how.

a) Enter coffee place
b) Meet date in question
c) Order coffee and a waffle / croissant
d) Size person up – don’t like what you see

Chances are, you can do a damn neat job in hastily gulping the caffeined beverage without scalding your tongue, (it may take longer than my saying Jack Robinson, but what the heck, you are getting there). You bite into the waffle / croissant, think of a believable excuse, and voila! Hasta luego to your date. No questions asked. No ruffled feathers. Wotsay?

In the eventuality of the date getting there to be a success, there are lots of things to add-on to the experience: the informal and aesthetically-pleasing setting, where like-minded people hang out and sip their coffee (and maybe chamomile tea), not to mention read books, solve the daily crossword, strum a guitar in a corner, catch up with gossip, fine-tune plans, and play a round of chess.

All the above ensure that coffee houses remain bustling centers.

And coffee will find a way to creep into those (un)forgettable dates…