According to the Oxford Handy Dictionary, a cup is a "drinking vessel usually with one side handle." If there are two side handles, it is a soup bowl. If there is only one , it is either a tea-cup or a coffee-cup.
While there is usually one or maximum two types of tea-cups on the basis of their design, there are at least three distinguishable kinds of coffee-cups: (1) "mocca" or "espresso," (2) "cappuccino," (3) mug.
"Mocca" or "espresso" cups are very small and narrow china vessels with the cubic capacity usually of no more than one deciliter. Their use is widespread especially in Eastern Europe from Poland to Croatia. In this part of the world, people never seem to stop or slow down. They are constantly in the human-race almost never taking the time to enjoy the little pleasures of life. This may be the reason why they do not "waste" time with leisurely leaning back and relaxing sipping a "normal" cup of coffee or cappuccino. They just gulp down a small amount of the suspiciously dark drink killing fatigue in ten seconds and out they are again on the run. Therefore, the little porcelain cups decorated with fine flowery pattern or little dots make up an inevitable part of all "nice" girls' dowry and are the adornments of all elderly ladies' show-case. Because espresso coffee is made under steam pressure in those well-known coffee machines of metal that can be found in 99% of the households of all Hungarian coffee fans, it is stronger than anything. Drinking more than one deciliter of it at one time may make anyone's heart beat with a double or triple speed. That is why there are special cups designed especially for this kind of coffee. They resemble a liquor glass both in shape and size, the only difference is that they are always made of china and liquor glasses are always without a handle. Both types of "drinking vessels" serve similar purposes, though: to improve one's momentary general feeling as soon as possible.
"Cappuccino" cups are wider and deeper than their above mentioned "colleagues," simply because of the fact that cappuccino is a thinner kind of drink made with more milk and sugar than coffee. Cups designed especially for it are about 7-8 cms deep with the upper diameter of about 10 cms which makes it capable of containing two deciliters of drink. Because Hungarians seem to be devoted to black coffee, cappuccino cups are rather rare. They are not, or just rarely available in stores, and they are sometimes missing even from reastaurants. In Southern Europe, on the other hand, where people apparently take life less seriously and prefer passing their time on the sunny terraces of the numerous cafes instead of preying their minds, the habit of sipping a "long" cappuccino is more common. Maybe if the bourgeois lifestyle takes stand in Hungary again and life means something joyful and pleasant and not just "making a living," it will gain ground hereabouts, too. The process has started but it is not in its full bloom, yet.
The well-known ordinary mugs, which are "pillars" of most people's everyday lives, make up the third group of my categorization. Mugs with the cubic capacity of 2.5-3 deciliters are the best "drinking vessels" for the so called "long coffee." A coffee is long when the proportion of water is higher in the mixture than that of coffe, therefore it much more resembles hot water with coffee aroma than coffee in the espresso sense. Drinking two or three whole mugs of it has no negative impact on anyone's blood pressure, so it would be a worthless idea to try with smaller vessels. We can get a "liquid" of this kind if we buy one of those fancy coffee machines made of plastic that are available all over the Western world but nowdays also in our region.
It is very hard to decide which of the three types is the best. Naturally it is very subjective. If you are a fan of espresso coffee, you will vote for those fancy, tip-top cups. If you are in favor of "long coffee," cappuccino, or even Turkish coffee, on the other hand, your choice will most likely fall on mugs. All have their advantages and disadvantages: "mocca" cups are narrow and small, as I have already stated at several points, therefore they are rather inconvenient to drink from especially for people with long nose. Once a cup or even a glass is small in diameter, it is very probable that its upper edge just hits the tip of a long nose while its lower edge is in the mouth. It may be very frustrating and embarassing... "Cappuccino" cups are very elegant in my opinion, and it is also very pleasant to drink from once you have managed to reach your mouth without spilling the sweet drink. Since they are not deep but wide, it is rather hard to keep the drink inside and not pour it on your lap or the table cloth. If cups of this latter type are elegant then mugs, especially the ones with bright colors and cute patterns are cosy. They are designed for informal occasions and are the actual parts of our lives: they may express something about us and our personality. For instance, if you are keen on elephants, you may have a mug with smiling little elephants on, but the range of possibilities and varieties is practically endless. Although mugs are rather informal and we usually do not serve coffee in them when our grandmother comes for a visit, I think they are the best and most convenient "drinking vessels with one side handle." They are deep with a relatively thick wall which makes it impossible to bite in two when lazily "chewing" on a cup of coffee when watching TV or reading the newspaper (it is a crucial point of view by all means ). The handle is of a normal size, too which means you can get a steady hold of it reducing the risk of dropping the mug to the minimum (it cannot be said about "mocca" cups and their "Liliputhian-size" handles). So they are apparently not only fancy but also practical.
There is a fourth group of coffee-cups that is worthwhile to mention although its "representatives" are completely different from the previous types. I am thinking about those white or brown plastic cups, or rather "drinking vessels," that we are all so familiar with from buffets and drink automats. They are far from being nice or well-designed. Their value does not lie in their esthetics but on a deeper level: in their production price. They are disposable, therefore they have to be as cheap as possible. Once they are cheap, the emphasis is on practicality and not on appearance. The question of practicality is reduced to the lowest possible level, though: they should be able to hold about two deciliters of hot drink for long minutes and that is all. And all the disadvantages are rooted here: because they have to be cheap, the amount of plastic used in the production is very low. Therefore they are light and the walls are thin making it very easy to press the cup from the side spilling the drink to the floor. The adjustment of a handle would increase the expenses, too, consequently it is always missing, which is the worst of all the disadvantages of plastic mugs: once the drink is hot , the thin plastic gets hot easily, too, and once the cup you are holding is hot, you may easily burn your hand or drop your drink losing everything you have come for.
But in the case of coffee automats and school buffets (for example) the design of the cup you are served with counts the least. You just want a good cup of coffee and do not care about the rest. That is why they are cheap and practical (if a coffee cup without a handle can be practical at all) rather than satisfying to the eye. But it is you (or a close companion of yours) who pick your very own coffee cup of either type, therefore they should serve some esthetical criteria too. That is why they are rather expensive. And they are not disposable, only some semi-fixed assets of our lives which should last some
Showing posts with label coffee cups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coffee cups. Show all posts
Friday, May 11, 2007
L 196 F
The theory long held still persists in common knowledge that coffee cups are made and practically good for a very limited range of possible ways of uses: pouring some kinds of liquids from it, in the majority of cases, right into the human digestive system, through the mouth organ.
However, this extremely vague theory has been finally refuted to the utmost by a current occurence, which completely undermined the above mentioned very shaky presumption, proving that coffee cups are most suitable for much more far-reaching and vital goals than had ever been supposed before. That is, to point indirectly to the fact that there are certain things it is really worth living for.
It has all happened lately, a two-days' journey from here, that over a sunlit meadow of tiny daisies two andacious ladybugs were executing at times a bit clumsy but by all means admirable maneouvres, flitting wing in wing, turning and twisting as a steadfast blast of wind pushed them gently out of balance. It was their dearest field, where the scent of daises were overpowering and where the bright sunshine gilded the whole province, and especially, enchanced the healthy glitter of the numerous petite spots on their backs.
These two ladybugs were inseparable. They were always hanging out together since their very early years, usually wing in wing, which in fact gave the basis to backbiters spreading malevolent scandals in bug circles concerning the purity of their relationship but the real reason for this strangely strong affection was the fact that they had been born on the very same day, had gone to school, grown up together, and had got so much used to the pleasant company of the other that they were not ready even to open their membranic wings without each other.
But alas, how big the difference was between them!
One of them was brightly red with seven black spots on his back. He was a very joyful fellow, always on cloud nine, full of go, telling jokes and buzzing his favorite evergreens while flying and dangling his tiny legs to the beat of the rhytm.
The other ladybug was faded yellow and to his great despair there were no more but five spots on his pale wings. He was constantly so blue, humming heart- rending melodies and due to his almost chronic inferiority complex and extreme moodiness his legs were not moving vigorously like those of his friend's but rather looked as if there had not been circulating body fluid in them: they were hanging inanimated.
"Opposites attract each other"- says the proverb, and in fact it did prove out to be true in the world of ladybugs. These two were never wearisome. They constantly had something to argue about.
"It is easy for you," ejaculated the five-spotted from time to time, "it is so easy for you to be happy. You possess seven beautiful spots. And what is more, you are brightly red. Look at me, I am miserably five-spotted and faded yellow!"
"So what? It is not these spots that make one happy. It is life!"
"But what is the point of living when I have only five spots and on a faded yellow ground?" Hereupon the five-spotted ladybug bursted out in such a melancholic song that his ever joyful friend had to plug his ears in order not to let his good mood depressed.
This was how they wrangled and they were certainly not able to convince each other, yet, the brightly red ladybug was in for all to put his little buddy in a good humor.
Also now, as they were flying along, he exclaimed:
"Look how wonderful the sky is above us! The sun is shining warmly, there is not one cloud in sight. Life is all happiness."
"How can you be so naive? Do you really think that it is gonna last forever? Soon, when the cloudburst comes your joy will depart and we will be drowned in the enormous flood."
In this very instant, the sky lowered indicating the imminence, hulking thunderclouds banked up, blacking out the formerly bright blue horizone, and an immense flurry flooded them.
The colossal gale caught the two powerless ladybugs, hurling them into a chipped coffee cup which had been laying abandoned under the old oak tree for years. They knocked heavily as they fell to the bottom of it.
"I've told you!" exclaimed the yellow one with a terror-stricken voice. "We are done for! We are done for!"
And it was already raining cats and dogs.
"It is all up with us! This is the end of the world!" the final despair got control over him.
"We will survive, do not worry! We will surely survive!" shouted the brightly red ladybug to his friend while he was desperately sawing the water with his tiny legs in the ever increasing flood in the coffe cup, because the pouring rain made the water level increase at a terrifingly fast speed.
But the yellow one did not struggle at all. He abandoned himself motionless to the thought of mortality.
The huge drops of the cloudburst were waving the sea of rainwater in the coffee cup, the wind was also lashing the water and the two poor ladybugs were once under , once over it.
The brighly red one, when getting underwater, worked his way up to the surface at once with his sawing tiny legs, but his yellow buddy kept on staying motionless in the bottom, drowning, giving up all hopes of survival.
The deluge was raising ... and raising the water level only to fill it up and throw the struggling red fellow over the chipped rim of the battered coffee cup, right onto the wet grass.
When he regained consciousness, the sun was already high up in the sky, though the meadow of tiny daisies still reflected the recent fresh shower and the overpowering scent of the flowers was softened by the gentle smell of the rain.
His first thought was that of his yellow homey. Having flown above the coffe cup, he spotted his friend floating inanimated on the surface of the water, with his belly upwards.
Quickly, he dragged his friend to the rim of the chipped coffee cup and getting hold of him with his tiny legs, they landed on the grass. Straight away, he tried to revive him with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, in vain. Then all of a sudden, his famous happiness abandoned him. He bursted out crying over the motionless body of his dear brother and with a berry of woodbine he painted two black spots onto the faded yellow back.
"Good-bye, Sevenspotted!" he mumbled solemnly. "I wish you would have stayed Fivespotted. How many times have I told you that spots do not make one happy, only life?"
Then he paid the last honors to his always sad friend - he made seven circles above him in the air. One for every spot.
After this, as he decided to leave that place of misfortune, he heard a sudden fit of coughing and saw his brother struggling to get rid of the unnecessary rainwater in his body.
"Are you alive? Is it really true, dear ... ( Fivespotted, he wanted to say but then he remembered ) Sevenspotted?"
The faded yellow ladybug shuddered, spread his wings and ascended, high up in the air.
But marvel of marvels!
It seemed that he was moving his tiny legs while flying, undoubtedly, joyfully. And as if he had even been buzzing a merry song.
Surprisingly enough, this is what happened. The moral of this story, folks, is that no theories stand on safe grounds and that we should not let ourselves be blinded by so-called facts. We should always keep on proceeding towards the very aim to believe something only after we had made sure of it being so.
However, this extremely vague theory has been finally refuted to the utmost by a current occurence, which completely undermined the above mentioned very shaky presumption, proving that coffee cups are most suitable for much more far-reaching and vital goals than had ever been supposed before. That is, to point indirectly to the fact that there are certain things it is really worth living for.
It has all happened lately, a two-days' journey from here, that over a sunlit meadow of tiny daisies two andacious ladybugs were executing at times a bit clumsy but by all means admirable maneouvres, flitting wing in wing, turning and twisting as a steadfast blast of wind pushed them gently out of balance. It was their dearest field, where the scent of daises were overpowering and where the bright sunshine gilded the whole province, and especially, enchanced the healthy glitter of the numerous petite spots on their backs.
These two ladybugs were inseparable. They were always hanging out together since their very early years, usually wing in wing, which in fact gave the basis to backbiters spreading malevolent scandals in bug circles concerning the purity of their relationship but the real reason for this strangely strong affection was the fact that they had been born on the very same day, had gone to school, grown up together, and had got so much used to the pleasant company of the other that they were not ready even to open their membranic wings without each other.
But alas, how big the difference was between them!
One of them was brightly red with seven black spots on his back. He was a very joyful fellow, always on cloud nine, full of go, telling jokes and buzzing his favorite evergreens while flying and dangling his tiny legs to the beat of the rhytm.
The other ladybug was faded yellow and to his great despair there were no more but five spots on his pale wings. He was constantly so blue, humming heart- rending melodies and due to his almost chronic inferiority complex and extreme moodiness his legs were not moving vigorously like those of his friend's but rather looked as if there had not been circulating body fluid in them: they were hanging inanimated.
"Opposites attract each other"- says the proverb, and in fact it did prove out to be true in the world of ladybugs. These two were never wearisome. They constantly had something to argue about.
"It is easy for you," ejaculated the five-spotted from time to time, "it is so easy for you to be happy. You possess seven beautiful spots. And what is more, you are brightly red. Look at me, I am miserably five-spotted and faded yellow!"
"So what? It is not these spots that make one happy. It is life!"
"But what is the point of living when I have only five spots and on a faded yellow ground?" Hereupon the five-spotted ladybug bursted out in such a melancholic song that his ever joyful friend had to plug his ears in order not to let his good mood depressed.
This was how they wrangled and they were certainly not able to convince each other, yet, the brightly red ladybug was in for all to put his little buddy in a good humor.
Also now, as they were flying along, he exclaimed:
"Look how wonderful the sky is above us! The sun is shining warmly, there is not one cloud in sight. Life is all happiness."
"How can you be so naive? Do you really think that it is gonna last forever? Soon, when the cloudburst comes your joy will depart and we will be drowned in the enormous flood."
In this very instant, the sky lowered indicating the imminence, hulking thunderclouds banked up, blacking out the formerly bright blue horizone, and an immense flurry flooded them.
The colossal gale caught the two powerless ladybugs, hurling them into a chipped coffee cup which had been laying abandoned under the old oak tree for years. They knocked heavily as they fell to the bottom of it.
"I've told you!" exclaimed the yellow one with a terror-stricken voice. "We are done for! We are done for!"
And it was already raining cats and dogs.
"It is all up with us! This is the end of the world!" the final despair got control over him.
"We will survive, do not worry! We will surely survive!" shouted the brightly red ladybug to his friend while he was desperately sawing the water with his tiny legs in the ever increasing flood in the coffe cup, because the pouring rain made the water level increase at a terrifingly fast speed.
But the yellow one did not struggle at all. He abandoned himself motionless to the thought of mortality.
The huge drops of the cloudburst were waving the sea of rainwater in the coffee cup, the wind was also lashing the water and the two poor ladybugs were once under , once over it.
The brighly red one, when getting underwater, worked his way up to the surface at once with his sawing tiny legs, but his yellow buddy kept on staying motionless in the bottom, drowning, giving up all hopes of survival.
The deluge was raising ... and raising the water level only to fill it up and throw the struggling red fellow over the chipped rim of the battered coffee cup, right onto the wet grass.
When he regained consciousness, the sun was already high up in the sky, though the meadow of tiny daisies still reflected the recent fresh shower and the overpowering scent of the flowers was softened by the gentle smell of the rain.
His first thought was that of his yellow homey. Having flown above the coffe cup, he spotted his friend floating inanimated on the surface of the water, with his belly upwards.
Quickly, he dragged his friend to the rim of the chipped coffee cup and getting hold of him with his tiny legs, they landed on the grass. Straight away, he tried to revive him with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, in vain. Then all of a sudden, his famous happiness abandoned him. He bursted out crying over the motionless body of his dear brother and with a berry of woodbine he painted two black spots onto the faded yellow back.
"Good-bye, Sevenspotted!" he mumbled solemnly. "I wish you would have stayed Fivespotted. How many times have I told you that spots do not make one happy, only life?"
Then he paid the last honors to his always sad friend - he made seven circles above him in the air. One for every spot.
After this, as he decided to leave that place of misfortune, he heard a sudden fit of coughing and saw his brother struggling to get rid of the unnecessary rainwater in his body.
"Are you alive? Is it really true, dear ... ( Fivespotted, he wanted to say but then he remembered ) Sevenspotted?"
The faded yellow ladybug shuddered, spread his wings and ascended, high up in the air.
But marvel of marvels!
It seemed that he was moving his tiny legs while flying, undoubtedly, joyfully. And as if he had even been buzzing a merry song.
Surprisingly enough, this is what happened. The moral of this story, folks, is that no theories stand on safe grounds and that we should not let ourselves be blinded by so-called facts. We should always keep on proceeding towards the very aim to believe something only after we had made sure of it being so.
L 193 F
Reader,
I here put into your hands what has resulted from my deep thoughts during my idle and heavy hours. I honestly hope that scrutinizing this Essay will be to your great delight, as I found pleasure in producing it. This Essay I dare deem a masterpiece; but reader, do not mistake this last statement as a praising of my own work, nay, I still am trying to regard myself subject to mistakes (although, I feel obliged to tell you, it is not easy), and I, knowing you will judge fairly, will not be offended, should you condemn this work. This Essay will discuss the use of coffee cups, viz. for what they are used, by whom, when, where and how. I modestly propose that coffee cups should not be used, and I shall attempt to support this claim with reason. And, reader, if you ask why I took up writing the Essay, that is indeed just. What I am trying to achieve by propagating these thoughts is to contribute to abandoning the use of coffee cups in England for it is a filthy and unwholesome habit. I do not deny that my purpose with this work is to give logical reasons which will persuade readers to abandon the use of coffee cups from their lives because it is of detrimental effect on human intellect, or understanding, which is the most elevated faculty of the soul.
By our present year of grace 1689 a new and strange habit has become widespread in our country, namely the use of coffee cups. First let me define what is meant by `coffee' and `cup'. The hot, bitter, black watery liquid many Englishmen consume nowadays, which they produced by cooking the ground seeds of the coffee shrub is denominated as `coffee'. Most of the time it is drunk with sugar and sometimes even milk. It contains a substance called caffeine and the danger lies here, because if consumed frequently, it leads to different damages of the intellect, which I will later discuss. The object we refer to as `coffee cup' is what only coffee is drunk from *.
It is a rather small, bowl‑shaped utensil with a volume of approximately a third of a gill, and has one handle. It is generally made of china and is often sumptuously decorated. Its indispensable part is the saucer. It is also necessary to define `usage'. The ceremony of coffee drinking is so strongly connected with coffee cups that one cannot even imagine neither coffee without the use of coffee cups, nor coffee cups without coffee. It would be a great misconception to separate the two as you, reader, may do. If I censure the drinking of coffee, I censure the use of coffee cups.
All addictions, if indulged in excessively, are deleterious. This applies to the use of coffee cups, viz. coffe drinking as well. Maybe you, reader, too have used the coffee cup so frequently that your intelligence is already clouded, but you do not realize that your intelligence is clouded, because the use of coffee cups has clouded it **.
The cup I discuss herein is to be distinguished from any other kinds of vessels. Please note that the Essay discusses coffee cups only. **
A few hundred years later this curious and somewhat absurd syllogism will be referred to as `Catch - 22’, popularized by an honourable 20th century colleague of mine, Joseph Heller. See Note 1.
Now let me look at those fellow countrymen who indulge in this vicious passion immoderately. This silly fashion of using coffee cups has become so widespread that I am seriously anxious about the mental and physical condition of the venerable members of the middle class. I fear for their growing dull, their disease of the stomach and the weariness of their nerves. I think, these reasons are persuasive enough for those readers who are not aware of it or are, but still use coffee cups. I do not need to express my worries concerning the poor who cannot afford to use coffee cups because consequently they do not suffer from this cruel addiction. Just those who are affluent and intelligent at the same time and who should utilize their noble thoughts and ideas for the benefit of our country indulge the most extensively in the use of coffee cups. And they stoop so low as to teach even their children how to use the cups, fabricating these utensils taller and pouring milk into them, this way trying to conceal the bitter taste. Reader, I am putting the question to you: what men and women will those children become whose intelligence is poisoned by the use of coffee cups at such a tender age?
And when do they use coffee cups? More and more frequently, almost always. Some use it instead of having a proper breakfast, others after dinner, some others cultivate the ceremony in the afternoon, often instead of tea. Sometimes people use the cups when they desire the freshness of their intellect, the mitigation of their drowsiness. Again others use the coffee cups just as a habit, without any seemingly logical reason. And I am asking, is he, who uses the cup every day, able to realize its detrimental effect?
It is worth discussing where these perilous utensils are used. As I have mentioned above, the use of coffee cups is so widespread that we can see their presence almost in every well‑to‑do household. I am aware that in Venice several so called `cafés’ were opened half a century ago, which are institutionalized places for the use of coffee cups. There crowds of people use coffee cups in every hour.
And I feel obliged to consider in what fashion people apply the cups. It is generally accepted that they are to be used in a due manner. It has a complete set of rules concerning its proper usage, undermining and beginning to destroy our precious national traditions, due to the fact that many coffee drinkers consider this kind of behaviour the ideal above all other kinds of behaviour. All addicted drinkers of the poisonous liquid are bound to consider how to hold the cup either with, or without the saucer, where to put the spoon with which they promote the dissolution of the sugar in the coffee. For them it is of great importance to drink coffee in a highly elegant fashion, not to be exposed to ridiculing and humiliating insinuations from their fellow coffee addicts. And alas, this occupies their thoughts instead of minding the affairs of our country! England, England! Woe is me!
We have already considered what people use these utensils for: due to the assimilated custom people use them for nothing else but coffee drinking. Apart from this we can find other functions of a coffee cup also. It is sometimes used by artists, especially painters as an object of their artistic expression, eg. on still lifes. A very good example is provided by one of
our great painters ***. Others try to gain profit by utilizing the presence of coffee cups in the following disgracing way: they buy huge amounts of coffee cups at a cheap price and they trade with those cups in a rascally manner, viz. they sell them at much higher prices. This way they get hold of many coffee cups, sadly enough, which probably means a great temptation not only to use the cups even more frequently, but also to use more of them ****.
I cherish the hope that these clear and distinct ideas will help you, reader, comprehend the grave importance of this matter if you are still attached to using the cups. I trust you will not think your money ill-bestowed, having purchased this work, and I hope you do not reckon that for the same money you should have bought a coffee cup instead.
I here put into your hands what has resulted from my deep thoughts during my idle and heavy hours. I honestly hope that scrutinizing this Essay will be to your great delight, as I found pleasure in producing it. This Essay I dare deem a masterpiece; but reader, do not mistake this last statement as a praising of my own work, nay, I still am trying to regard myself subject to mistakes (although, I feel obliged to tell you, it is not easy), and I, knowing you will judge fairly, will not be offended, should you condemn this work. This Essay will discuss the use of coffee cups, viz. for what they are used, by whom, when, where and how. I modestly propose that coffee cups should not be used, and I shall attempt to support this claim with reason. And, reader, if you ask why I took up writing the Essay, that is indeed just. What I am trying to achieve by propagating these thoughts is to contribute to abandoning the use of coffee cups in England for it is a filthy and unwholesome habit. I do not deny that my purpose with this work is to give logical reasons which will persuade readers to abandon the use of coffee cups from their lives because it is of detrimental effect on human intellect, or understanding, which is the most elevated faculty of the soul.
By our present year of grace 1689 a new and strange habit has become widespread in our country, namely the use of coffee cups. First let me define what is meant by `coffee' and `cup'. The hot, bitter, black watery liquid many Englishmen consume nowadays, which they produced by cooking the ground seeds of the coffee shrub is denominated as `coffee'. Most of the time it is drunk with sugar and sometimes even milk. It contains a substance called caffeine and the danger lies here, because if consumed frequently, it leads to different damages of the intellect, which I will later discuss. The object we refer to as `coffee cup' is what only coffee is drunk from *.
It is a rather small, bowl‑shaped utensil with a volume of approximately a third of a gill, and has one handle. It is generally made of china and is often sumptuously decorated. Its indispensable part is the saucer. It is also necessary to define `usage'. The ceremony of coffee drinking is so strongly connected with coffee cups that one cannot even imagine neither coffee without the use of coffee cups, nor coffee cups without coffee. It would be a great misconception to separate the two as you, reader, may do. If I censure the drinking of coffee, I censure the use of coffee cups.
All addictions, if indulged in excessively, are deleterious. This applies to the use of coffee cups, viz. coffe drinking as well. Maybe you, reader, too have used the coffee cup so frequently that your intelligence is already clouded, but you do not realize that your intelligence is clouded, because the use of coffee cups has clouded it **.
The cup I discuss herein is to be distinguished from any other kinds of vessels. Please note that the Essay discusses coffee cups only. **
A few hundred years later this curious and somewhat absurd syllogism will be referred to as `Catch - 22’, popularized by an honourable 20th century colleague of mine, Joseph Heller. See Note 1.
Now let me look at those fellow countrymen who indulge in this vicious passion immoderately. This silly fashion of using coffee cups has become so widespread that I am seriously anxious about the mental and physical condition of the venerable members of the middle class. I fear for their growing dull, their disease of the stomach and the weariness of their nerves. I think, these reasons are persuasive enough for those readers who are not aware of it or are, but still use coffee cups. I do not need to express my worries concerning the poor who cannot afford to use coffee cups because consequently they do not suffer from this cruel addiction. Just those who are affluent and intelligent at the same time and who should utilize their noble thoughts and ideas for the benefit of our country indulge the most extensively in the use of coffee cups. And they stoop so low as to teach even their children how to use the cups, fabricating these utensils taller and pouring milk into them, this way trying to conceal the bitter taste. Reader, I am putting the question to you: what men and women will those children become whose intelligence is poisoned by the use of coffee cups at such a tender age?
And when do they use coffee cups? More and more frequently, almost always. Some use it instead of having a proper breakfast, others after dinner, some others cultivate the ceremony in the afternoon, often instead of tea. Sometimes people use the cups when they desire the freshness of their intellect, the mitigation of their drowsiness. Again others use the coffee cups just as a habit, without any seemingly logical reason. And I am asking, is he, who uses the cup every day, able to realize its detrimental effect?
It is worth discussing where these perilous utensils are used. As I have mentioned above, the use of coffee cups is so widespread that we can see their presence almost in every well‑to‑do household. I am aware that in Venice several so called `cafés’ were opened half a century ago, which are institutionalized places for the use of coffee cups. There crowds of people use coffee cups in every hour.
And I feel obliged to consider in what fashion people apply the cups. It is generally accepted that they are to be used in a due manner. It has a complete set of rules concerning its proper usage, undermining and beginning to destroy our precious national traditions, due to the fact that many coffee drinkers consider this kind of behaviour the ideal above all other kinds of behaviour. All addicted drinkers of the poisonous liquid are bound to consider how to hold the cup either with, or without the saucer, where to put the spoon with which they promote the dissolution of the sugar in the coffee. For them it is of great importance to drink coffee in a highly elegant fashion, not to be exposed to ridiculing and humiliating insinuations from their fellow coffee addicts. And alas, this occupies their thoughts instead of minding the affairs of our country! England, England! Woe is me!
We have already considered what people use these utensils for: due to the assimilated custom people use them for nothing else but coffee drinking. Apart from this we can find other functions of a coffee cup also. It is sometimes used by artists, especially painters as an object of their artistic expression, eg. on still lifes. A very good example is provided by one of
our great painters ***. Others try to gain profit by utilizing the presence of coffee cups in the following disgracing way: they buy huge amounts of coffee cups at a cheap price and they trade with those cups in a rascally manner, viz. they sell them at much higher prices. This way they get hold of many coffee cups, sadly enough, which probably means a great temptation not only to use the cups even more frequently, but also to use more of them ****.
I cherish the hope that these clear and distinct ideas will help you, reader, comprehend the grave importance of this matter if you are still attached to using the cups. I trust you will not think your money ill-bestowed, having purchased this work, and I hope you do not reckon that for the same money you should have bought a coffee cup instead.
L 191 F
The use of coffee cups... One can argue that this is such an obvious thing that there is nothing to talk or write about. We had better not waste any time on it. But definitely, there is no point in writing a 1,500-2,000 word expository essay on it.
Actually, people usually do not think about the obvious things in other parts of life neither. For what do we use a coffee cup? That may sound as a trivial question for most of us. For drinking coffee from it. That is a convention. We drink coffee from coffee cups. Few people question conventions. People tend to follow them.
Considering coffee cups people usually do not even meditate on the possibility of using a coffee cup for other purposes than for drinking from it. But the chance is always there. In the following a few options or initiatives will be outlined to show, and presumably convince, sceptics
that with pure creativity a coffee cup can be utilized in a lot of different ways.
Coffee cups can be used for various distinct things that for the first time do not seem evident for all of us. Of course, its primary use is clear for everybody: to drink coffee from it. But what about drinking tea from it? Or is it then called a tea cup? Does it make a difference? As for myself I do not make a distinction between a coffee cup and a tea cup. Serious coffee drinkers perhaps would oppose to this statement but myself not belonging to them I dare say that there is no difference.
Besides having a coffee cup as an 'instrument', an 'aid' for drinking it can be used in many other ways. For example, it can operate as a flower pot. After filling it with soil and a nice plant put in it could be a nice article in the flat. This kind of application is especially useful when its handle is broken down. Moreover, environmentalists would appreciate it as well, as it would count as recycling. Or to be more precise, re-using instead of just disposing it. And you can even re-use the pieces of the cup if it is totally broken. Nice mosaics could be produced with the help of the small pieces. They are excellent presents. The receivers would value them.
Another use of a coffee cup would be transforming it into a pencil box or container. Of course not actually transforming it, for I do not have a pencil box you carry with you to school- that would be ridiculous and not at all executable- on my mind, but one that stands on your desk and you keep pens and pencils in it for your work at home. It can make not only your desk, but your whole room more personal and more friendly. Pencils show great in a nicely designed coffee cup, no matter if is without a handle or not. This can lessen your despair if you have to do a work you do not really feel like doing.
You can also keep small objects, articles, like paper clips or erasers in it, which can be very useful with bearing in mind not to lose tiny little things. If you have quite a lot of things, which I think in most instances are the case, it is advisable to get something in which you can keep them together and in order. A coffee cup would be just the perfect solution for the problem.
Drying cutlery could be kept in a coffee cup, too. It is nice and personal and what is more, you do not have to buy a 'professional' container designed for keeping cutlery in it. Just get a coffee cup you are already bored with drinking from it and use it. It is even easier to find a cup that harmonizes with the colours and the furniture of the kitchen than managing to buy a 'real' container. Usually the colour you are looking for in the shops are out of stock.
Supposing you have a ramshackle house. In rainy days you could even use a coffee cup for collecting the dropping water. Usually you need several articles to keep the water from dropping to the floor and coffee cups are always at hand. One can say that is not a big help if it is pouring outside but it is more than nothing.
Additionally, a coffee cup would be excellent for keeping small sweets and candy in it. Who would offer his or her guests candy from an expensive crystal bowl, with the fear of dropping it down, if he or she can equally do it with a nice, funny and probably homelier coffee cup. Every modern, broad minded young person would go for the coffee cup version.
Smokers can use a coffee cup as an ash tray or instead of an ash tray. I even saw some of them doing that. It can serve the purpose just as well, and they are usually at hand. Of course, it is also a question of taste. It is not a nice thing, bearing in mind that one would like to drink from it later. But it is still better than to have the ash fall on the carpet and put it on fire.
After considering the different kinds of functions of a coffee cup could fulfill in the kitchen, in the sitting room and in the study, we can, or rather we have to think about the bathroom, too. Here, the toothbrushes could be kept in a coffee cup, for example. There are special cups or glasses designed for keeping the toothbrushes in them, but a simple coffee cup would might as well do.
Among other things, a coffee cup can serve as a member of a coffee cup collection. There must be people who collect coffee cups if there are so many people collecting stamps, napkins or even soaps. Collecting coffee cups does not really differ from collecting other things. It is also an obsession.
A coffee cup can be a part of a wall decoration next to pictures and plates. There are people who like this kind of ornaments.
You can even use a coffee cup as a substitution for a vase. This happens quite often in a student hostel or dormitory room where people normally do not possess vases. Here comes the help of the good old coffee cup. And after the flower is withered you can use the cup in its normal way.
Furthermore, a coffee cup could be a good present on every occasion. Now there are different ones designed for birthdays, name days or just ones saying 'get well', 'congratulations', 'good luck' and so on. You can always choose the one that suits the occasion and the receiver's personality the best. (And of course the one that matches the affordability of your wallet, as there are also quite expensive ones sold.)
Another substitution could be using a coffee cup for collecting money. Beggars usually have their caps to put the money into but I see no obstacle of using a coffee cup for this purpose. Perhaps the one that they may not have one. But not only beggars can collect money. For example, in the teachers' room at a school the money the teachers pay for their coffees could be put into it.
Summing up, I think using a coffee cup for other purposes than for drinking and these numerous possibilities depend entirely on the person's originality. Several others could be found out besides the above mentioned, but using all my imagination I cannot think of other possibilities. Nevertheless, I hope these were enough to convince sceptics, that in a single coffee cup there lie a lot of possibilities.
Actually, people usually do not think about the obvious things in other parts of life neither. For what do we use a coffee cup? That may sound as a trivial question for most of us. For drinking coffee from it. That is a convention. We drink coffee from coffee cups. Few people question conventions. People tend to follow them.
Considering coffee cups people usually do not even meditate on the possibility of using a coffee cup for other purposes than for drinking from it. But the chance is always there. In the following a few options or initiatives will be outlined to show, and presumably convince, sceptics
that with pure creativity a coffee cup can be utilized in a lot of different ways.
Coffee cups can be used for various distinct things that for the first time do not seem evident for all of us. Of course, its primary use is clear for everybody: to drink coffee from it. But what about drinking tea from it? Or is it then called a tea cup? Does it make a difference? As for myself I do not make a distinction between a coffee cup and a tea cup. Serious coffee drinkers perhaps would oppose to this statement but myself not belonging to them I dare say that there is no difference.
Besides having a coffee cup as an 'instrument', an 'aid' for drinking it can be used in many other ways. For example, it can operate as a flower pot. After filling it with soil and a nice plant put in it could be a nice article in the flat. This kind of application is especially useful when its handle is broken down. Moreover, environmentalists would appreciate it as well, as it would count as recycling. Or to be more precise, re-using instead of just disposing it. And you can even re-use the pieces of the cup if it is totally broken. Nice mosaics could be produced with the help of the small pieces. They are excellent presents. The receivers would value them.
Another use of a coffee cup would be transforming it into a pencil box or container. Of course not actually transforming it, for I do not have a pencil box you carry with you to school- that would be ridiculous and not at all executable- on my mind, but one that stands on your desk and you keep pens and pencils in it for your work at home. It can make not only your desk, but your whole room more personal and more friendly. Pencils show great in a nicely designed coffee cup, no matter if is without a handle or not. This can lessen your despair if you have to do a work you do not really feel like doing.
You can also keep small objects, articles, like paper clips or erasers in it, which can be very useful with bearing in mind not to lose tiny little things. If you have quite a lot of things, which I think in most instances are the case, it is advisable to get something in which you can keep them together and in order. A coffee cup would be just the perfect solution for the problem.
Drying cutlery could be kept in a coffee cup, too. It is nice and personal and what is more, you do not have to buy a 'professional' container designed for keeping cutlery in it. Just get a coffee cup you are already bored with drinking from it and use it. It is even easier to find a cup that harmonizes with the colours and the furniture of the kitchen than managing to buy a 'real' container. Usually the colour you are looking for in the shops are out of stock.
Supposing you have a ramshackle house. In rainy days you could even use a coffee cup for collecting the dropping water. Usually you need several articles to keep the water from dropping to the floor and coffee cups are always at hand. One can say that is not a big help if it is pouring outside but it is more than nothing.
Additionally, a coffee cup would be excellent for keeping small sweets and candy in it. Who would offer his or her guests candy from an expensive crystal bowl, with the fear of dropping it down, if he or she can equally do it with a nice, funny and probably homelier coffee cup. Every modern, broad minded young person would go for the coffee cup version.
Smokers can use a coffee cup as an ash tray or instead of an ash tray. I even saw some of them doing that. It can serve the purpose just as well, and they are usually at hand. Of course, it is also a question of taste. It is not a nice thing, bearing in mind that one would like to drink from it later. But it is still better than to have the ash fall on the carpet and put it on fire.
After considering the different kinds of functions of a coffee cup could fulfill in the kitchen, in the sitting room and in the study, we can, or rather we have to think about the bathroom, too. Here, the toothbrushes could be kept in a coffee cup, for example. There are special cups or glasses designed for keeping the toothbrushes in them, but a simple coffee cup would might as well do.
Among other things, a coffee cup can serve as a member of a coffee cup collection. There must be people who collect coffee cups if there are so many people collecting stamps, napkins or even soaps. Collecting coffee cups does not really differ from collecting other things. It is also an obsession.
A coffee cup can be a part of a wall decoration next to pictures and plates. There are people who like this kind of ornaments.
You can even use a coffee cup as a substitution for a vase. This happens quite often in a student hostel or dormitory room where people normally do not possess vases. Here comes the help of the good old coffee cup. And after the flower is withered you can use the cup in its normal way.
Furthermore, a coffee cup could be a good present on every occasion. Now there are different ones designed for birthdays, name days or just ones saying 'get well', 'congratulations', 'good luck' and so on. You can always choose the one that suits the occasion and the receiver's personality the best. (And of course the one that matches the affordability of your wallet, as there are also quite expensive ones sold.)
Another substitution could be using a coffee cup for collecting money. Beggars usually have their caps to put the money into but I see no obstacle of using a coffee cup for this purpose. Perhaps the one that they may not have one. But not only beggars can collect money. For example, in the teachers' room at a school the money the teachers pay for their coffees could be put into it.
Summing up, I think using a coffee cup for other purposes than for drinking and these numerous possibilities depend entirely on the person's originality. Several others could be found out besides the above mentioned, but using all my imagination I cannot think of other possibilities. Nevertheless, I hope these were enough to convince sceptics, that in a single coffee cup there lie a lot of possibilities.
L 166 M
When my mother wakes up, she first opens the eyelids of her conscious to remember for a second what she had been dreaming about. During that second, through the inward eye all the colourful, happy and sad movements, objects and feelings slip down among the claws of her memories, never to be brought back to life if only by their very reoccurrence in it. I know that because she told me. Next she opens her eyes for real and staggers downstairs into the kitchen to prepare coffee. She sets out the cups, the spoons, the sugar and the milk onto a plate and sits down to wait for the coffee to be ready.
A few years ago she used to smoke a cigarette while waiting, nowadays she just sits observing. The white eight sided cups on similar saucers bore her to death, she prefers the ones that we, her sons sometimes get as presents. She particularly likes the one that has a giraffe on it. The body of the giraffe swells out in relief from the white porcelain of the cup, bowing its head down to its feet so that the neck forms the handle of the cup. The animal smiles cutely at a point constantly changing in time, but also in space, since that thing the giraffe is looking at is not on the cup. The other cup Mum likes a lot is green. My brother got it for one of his birthdays, or maybe for Christmas from a girlfriend of his. That girl like all the others my brother went out with was thin with short black hair, she wore glasses and didn't live have a telephone, also her father was dead or just divorced from her mother, anyway, he didn't live with his daughter. The funny thing about the cup is that when you drink your coffee, it has to be an American type of coffee with lots of water and milk, you find a small frog on the bottom of the cup. One would expect that somebody who drinks from it gets scared, but nobody ever got frightened, everybody would just smile and say it's funny. Similar cups with crocodiles, mice or snakes exists, also elephants and other exotic animals are represented in relief on cups like the one with the giraffe on.
Coffee cups that are not sold in sets sometimes can be precious to their users for they usually carry emotions, souvenirs of the one that made a present of it to us. Cups with names and proverbs written on are of this type along with the ones described in the previous paragraph. When one drinks coffee, milk, fruit juice or just plain water from such cups, one doesn't appreciate really the quality of the beverage. A benevolent feeling of the emotion that is related to the cup overwhelms the drinker. Memory opens its gate, the letters of the name of the person that gave us the cup lights up on top of it and the personality of the giver of the cup flies out of it, encircles us, the time we passed with him or her sends out its smells, lights and sounds and for a few minutes we step into another world. When one finishes drinking and puts the cup down all this world is sucked back into it, making the cup a recepient for that portion of our past life.
The specially designed coffee cups differ in many ways from the coffee cups that are sold in sets. While we only use funny cups occasionally, normal cups are used customarily. For instance when the coffee is ready, my mother pours it out into the eight sided ones to bring it upstairs and drink it with my father. She doesn't use the cups she likes, because she's too tired to care or that they haven't been washed since the night before, but also because the morning coffee is a ritual in their lives. They drink the coffee together discussing the day's duties, they perform that every day, except maybe for the weekends and having different cups would in a way disturb the mental route that connects them and which allows them to communicate silently. This silent connection is then with them all day. Drinking from similar cups establishes a kind of relationship among the drinkers, should they be a couple like my parents or a party of six or more. It is like in a restaurant, all the persons eating at the separate tables belong to a small community, which doesn't break up when one of the members pays his bill and leaves, since if you meet him later that day, you would recognise him, maybe even say hello to him, though you might not remember where you've seen him.
The use of coffee sets allows us to concentrate on coffee itself. One feels the warmth spreading out in the body, the caffeine making the heart beat faster, the flow of blood quickening, energy being produced to surplus, the mind setting down to creative work. Instead of watching the show of the past, one concentrates on near future, on the day to come or a specific task. To reach this effect of coffee people use simple cups, plain one colour ones, or sets with little decoration.
The difference between coffee sets and cups with individual design is washed away when we consider the fact that the similar coffee cups evoke different feelings in different families. A plain white set of coffee cups can have a socialist-realist feeling when used in a family living in a big block-of-flats, which would be totally other than it would have in the home of a family living in an all glass and metal house equipped with the latest high tech. It would have yet a different feeling when used in a flat rented by five students, not only because of the factor of environment, but also because of the differences of attitude towards life. The time factor is also crucial, with age everything changes character. Drinking from a brand new cup would put forth the fastening effect of coffee, while an old cup with its radiation of patina would help on bringing out the relaxing part of coffee. Other factors of the design of a coffee cup, such as material, colour or shape also influence a lot the state of mind of the user. Drinking from a porcelain cup makes coffee drinking a short holiday in the day, while having coffee from an ugly plastic glass can transform a nice custom into a boring necessity. The most important of all to the design are the motives, the drawings, the pictures that are represented on the cups and which are directly related to the mixture of emotions the cup arouses in the innocent drinker. The picture of a cyclist for instead would create an active feeling, while that of a gun will pump up the adrenaline level of most coffee thirsty person till aggressively, as for a flower, a peaceful mood is most likely to invade the brain cells.
As we have seen so far, the effect of coffee and drinking coffee is made up of a complex set of impressions and experiences that on their own only account for half of what we experience whiledrinking coffee. This part of the effect is constant with every cup at every single occasion. Personality is responsible for the other half of the coffee experience. Our basic dispositions are in a way reinforced by coffee. When my mother wakes, she is tired and angry at us, for not waking up in time, or she just feels fine, for on nice mornings everybody is only happy. Drinking coffee chases away tiredness from her and only remain anger, happiness, or whatever her mood is, to mix with the feeling of coffee, thus resulting in either melancholic or aggressive anger, either in silent or violent happiness.
Sometimes we are not conscious of the change of feeling we undergo, though every slight change has its outside source, should it be a needle or a house, a whisper or an ear-breaking noise. Everything is related to everything. The morning quarrel a shoemaker has with his wife might ruin years of the life of those that will wear the shoes he would make that day, for his bad mood will be reflected on all the things he'd do until he doesn't have a real nice coffee and forgets about the domestic raw. Having different cups at home enables us to, as I should say, influence our moments at least at fifty percent. One should be having cups for weekday mornings and weekend mornings, for afternoon parties, just as one should be able to say hello or goodbye, for if one wants to influence himself, he can.
A few years ago she used to smoke a cigarette while waiting, nowadays she just sits observing. The white eight sided cups on similar saucers bore her to death, she prefers the ones that we, her sons sometimes get as presents. She particularly likes the one that has a giraffe on it. The body of the giraffe swells out in relief from the white porcelain of the cup, bowing its head down to its feet so that the neck forms the handle of the cup. The animal smiles cutely at a point constantly changing in time, but also in space, since that thing the giraffe is looking at is not on the cup. The other cup Mum likes a lot is green. My brother got it for one of his birthdays, or maybe for Christmas from a girlfriend of his. That girl like all the others my brother went out with was thin with short black hair, she wore glasses and didn't live have a telephone, also her father was dead or just divorced from her mother, anyway, he didn't live with his daughter. The funny thing about the cup is that when you drink your coffee, it has to be an American type of coffee with lots of water and milk, you find a small frog on the bottom of the cup. One would expect that somebody who drinks from it gets scared, but nobody ever got frightened, everybody would just smile and say it's funny. Similar cups with crocodiles, mice or snakes exists, also elephants and other exotic animals are represented in relief on cups like the one with the giraffe on.
Coffee cups that are not sold in sets sometimes can be precious to their users for they usually carry emotions, souvenirs of the one that made a present of it to us. Cups with names and proverbs written on are of this type along with the ones described in the previous paragraph. When one drinks coffee, milk, fruit juice or just plain water from such cups, one doesn't appreciate really the quality of the beverage. A benevolent feeling of the emotion that is related to the cup overwhelms the drinker. Memory opens its gate, the letters of the name of the person that gave us the cup lights up on top of it and the personality of the giver of the cup flies out of it, encircles us, the time we passed with him or her sends out its smells, lights and sounds and for a few minutes we step into another world. When one finishes drinking and puts the cup down all this world is sucked back into it, making the cup a recepient for that portion of our past life.
The specially designed coffee cups differ in many ways from the coffee cups that are sold in sets. While we only use funny cups occasionally, normal cups are used customarily. For instance when the coffee is ready, my mother pours it out into the eight sided ones to bring it upstairs and drink it with my father. She doesn't use the cups she likes, because she's too tired to care or that they haven't been washed since the night before, but also because the morning coffee is a ritual in their lives. They drink the coffee together discussing the day's duties, they perform that every day, except maybe for the weekends and having different cups would in a way disturb the mental route that connects them and which allows them to communicate silently. This silent connection is then with them all day. Drinking from similar cups establishes a kind of relationship among the drinkers, should they be a couple like my parents or a party of six or more. It is like in a restaurant, all the persons eating at the separate tables belong to a small community, which doesn't break up when one of the members pays his bill and leaves, since if you meet him later that day, you would recognise him, maybe even say hello to him, though you might not remember where you've seen him.
The use of coffee sets allows us to concentrate on coffee itself. One feels the warmth spreading out in the body, the caffeine making the heart beat faster, the flow of blood quickening, energy being produced to surplus, the mind setting down to creative work. Instead of watching the show of the past, one concentrates on near future, on the day to come or a specific task. To reach this effect of coffee people use simple cups, plain one colour ones, or sets with little decoration.
The difference between coffee sets and cups with individual design is washed away when we consider the fact that the similar coffee cups evoke different feelings in different families. A plain white set of coffee cups can have a socialist-realist feeling when used in a family living in a big block-of-flats, which would be totally other than it would have in the home of a family living in an all glass and metal house equipped with the latest high tech. It would have yet a different feeling when used in a flat rented by five students, not only because of the factor of environment, but also because of the differences of attitude towards life. The time factor is also crucial, with age everything changes character. Drinking from a brand new cup would put forth the fastening effect of coffee, while an old cup with its radiation of patina would help on bringing out the relaxing part of coffee. Other factors of the design of a coffee cup, such as material, colour or shape also influence a lot the state of mind of the user. Drinking from a porcelain cup makes coffee drinking a short holiday in the day, while having coffee from an ugly plastic glass can transform a nice custom into a boring necessity. The most important of all to the design are the motives, the drawings, the pictures that are represented on the cups and which are directly related to the mixture of emotions the cup arouses in the innocent drinker. The picture of a cyclist for instead would create an active feeling, while that of a gun will pump up the adrenaline level of most coffee thirsty person till aggressively, as for a flower, a peaceful mood is most likely to invade the brain cells.
As we have seen so far, the effect of coffee and drinking coffee is made up of a complex set of impressions and experiences that on their own only account for half of what we experience whiledrinking coffee. This part of the effect is constant with every cup at every single occasion. Personality is responsible for the other half of the coffee experience. Our basic dispositions are in a way reinforced by coffee. When my mother wakes, she is tired and angry at us, for not waking up in time, or she just feels fine, for on nice mornings everybody is only happy. Drinking coffee chases away tiredness from her and only remain anger, happiness, or whatever her mood is, to mix with the feeling of coffee, thus resulting in either melancholic or aggressive anger, either in silent or violent happiness.
Sometimes we are not conscious of the change of feeling we undergo, though every slight change has its outside source, should it be a needle or a house, a whisper or an ear-breaking noise. Everything is related to everything. The morning quarrel a shoemaker has with his wife might ruin years of the life of those that will wear the shoes he would make that day, for his bad mood will be reflected on all the things he'd do until he doesn't have a real nice coffee and forgets about the domestic raw. Having different cups at home enables us to, as I should say, influence our moments at least at fifty percent. One should be having cups for weekday mornings and weekend mornings, for afternoon parties, just as one should be able to say hello or goodbye, for if one wants to influence himself, he can.
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