Happy National Coffee Day!

It was the summer after freshman year of college and my first day at what I would consider a “real” job. I was going to work a roofing job for the summer with my dad. It was a real job not only because it was laborious, but because you had to wake up early, something I still have not mastered.

I woke up, still dark out. The silence of the morning clutched onto me like a fog. But as I left my room, I smelled coffee in the kitchen. My dad was already up and had made me egg sandwiches and coffee.

That was the first morning I had coffee. And I have had it nearly everyday since.

66% of Americans drink coffee everyday. 75% of Americans have had coffee at least once in the last week. It is the second most consumed in the United States after water.

I love the morning ritual of coffee. It is happiness in a cup, as the components of coffee quite literally produce a happiness response in my own brain’s neurotransmitters.

As much as I love drinking coffee at home, I love coffee shops even more.

I love to write in a coffee shop, the sound of a dozen conversations melt together into a joyful background noise. It’s an electrical charge of ideas and human connection and it feeds my mind as I put words to a page.

I love to bump into strangers and friends at a coffee shop. We all share something in common, an enjoyment of a simple drink. To share an unexpected conversation in a coffee shop is like receiving an unexpected present in the mail.

I love to go on coffee shop dates. To sip and talk, giving each other the attention in conversation that another human deserves. Or maybe taking that drink on a walk and enjoying the surrounding area connected to the shop.

Coffee is great at home, but it is even better drank socially. Since COVID, though, 82% of coffee consumption is done at home¹.

I cannot go to a coffee shop every day. But I never want to lose the connection coffee can make with other people. When I drink coffee, I do not think of all the mornings alone drinking to start another average day. I remember, instead, drinking coffee with my dad. I remember drinking it with my wife on a date. I remember drinking it at shops in amazing locations (Java Moose in Fairplay, Colorado comes to mind).

So, on National Coffee Day, go to a shop. Support a small business. Or a big one. Invite someone to go with you. Have a beautiful conversation.

Feeling connected to others is one of the few things that is more addictive than coffee itself.

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1  https://www.cspdailynews.com/foodservice/convenience-store-chains-offer-2025-national-coffee-day-deals