Introduction

A typical day in the life of a typical person begins with a cup of their regular morning coffee, either at home, with a cup of coffee to go, or by just going to their favorite cafe to get their morning boost. Thus, coffee for many individuals is a common routine, despite that it is consumed in many ways depending on who, what, and how the person consumes it (Lindblad, J., & Svensson, E. (2017). Today we can see coffee houses opening on every other street corner. It is a drink that can be seen as a sign of hospitality in several businesses, to make the customer more comfortable and start talking.

In our society, the simple phrase “let us get a coffee” has now converted into “let us have a chat” and the venue is often intended to be private, but is however usually taken place in a public sphere (Gaudio, 2003). On top of this, drinking coffee involves social and interpersonal dimensions beyond the act of drinking (Seargeant & Tagg, 2014).

Coffee can be seen everywhere from our homes to our offices, from movie theater to a spa. In this assignment I am going to analyze the various angles associated with the ritual of drinking coffee, either all alone or with a group of friends or with a stranger. A sociological study of coffee will put light on the fact that the act has many social processes linked to it.

The Symbolic value Angle

In today's world we cannot consider coffee a simple refreshing drink. It has a symbolic value attached to it which may be different from person to person. One might consider coffee as their pre-workout drink, and someone on the far end of the world at the same time consider it as an excuse for a meetup. The morning cup of coffee is the central part of numerous people's morning routine an essential part of their day. The evening cup of coffee for many people is a way to relax their mind and take some time off from the busy and tiresome day that they had.

The Self Identity Angle

Things we consume, to perform our mundane actions, both contributes to and reflects our sense of identity of who and what we are (Kernan & Sommers, 1967; Solomon, 1983; Belk, 1988; Holbrook, 1992; Kleine et al., 1992). Identifying identity is not only an action made by the individual, but also a way of belonging to a certain group to which the person wants to be part. To become a member, the individual must learn about the values and emotions of the group. Knowledge can be how people talk, behave, or consume goods. We create our identity by using certain tools to fit into a certain group of people and socialize in the group.

Human Being is a social animal, and we all want a sense of belonging. The same applies with the coffee brand that we consume or what café we regular visit. Now in a case where a certain group or a person likes to drink coffee frequently at a certain coffee place, and we want to get involved in that group, due to peer pressure we must start going to that café with them and not to look what society has implied as socially awkward, we must also start drinking coffee irrespective of whether we like it or not.

Belk (1988) integrated product consumption into the work of individual identity, where the author claims that consumers understand and express their identity by consuming products and people’s possessions. The objects that an individual consumes is the part of their identity that longs for the social acceptance. An individual's identity is recognized from the reactions of the consumed products, not the goods itself.

In today's fast paced and online world, all of us see the perfect little illusion for life on the social media and start thinking if some celebrity is doing so, I should also do it. The same applies to the brand of coffee that we consume or the café that we go to or whether we used to like drinking coffee altogether before. This happens because we want to belong to the certain group of people that follow a particular celebrity. The media has normalized drinking coffee so much that now if someone does not indulge in the act of drinking coffee, he can be labeled as freak by the regular coffee drinkers. The media has also promoted the coffee drinking in a way that it looks normal to hang around in cafés to have important discussions of our lives with our friends and family. For example, in the famous 90’s sitcom FRIENDS the main cast was always seen hanging around in a coffee house. This has influenced a whole generation getting addicted to the act of drinking coffee.

The Macho/Adulthood Angle

The curiosity of what adults were drinking and doing has some influence why a child starts to drink coffee as soon as he comes to proper age. By getting a glimpse of the adult world from a child's point of view, curiosity has been developed about what to expect from aging. Furthermore, this curiosity of what the adults were doing came to influence them in the attempt to belong to the adult group. Dennis Rooks (1985) discussed that social introductions can be considered rituals involving certain complex etiquettes. Moreover, Rooks (1985) distinguishes between habits and rituals where he states that rituals are embedded with greater meanings for people compared to habits. Therefore, the act of drinking coffee of adults can be seen as an important ritual that children wanted to be part of because they saw it as an adult and vital activity.

When a child growing up sees the adults around them doing something and is forbidden to him, he might think that it is what makes the adults, “adults”. This might be the case with drinking alcohol, beer, or drinking coffee. It is a social norm that only adults drink the coffee. And seeing something that is forbidden to them, entices the children to start doing it as soon as they are at the proper age of doing so. This kind of embarks their transformation from childhood to adulthood. And the sooner they start drinking coffee the sooner they become the macho among their friends. It is a general perception that the darker the coffee the cooler that person becomes. This transformation could be referred to as a ritual that shows similarities that Turner (1969) describes as a passage rite.

The Social Angle

Whenever we meet someone new and if we want to make a bond with them, we usually invite them to coffee. This is because coffee is a light and warm drink that can be taken in between the conversation without looking rude or with improper etiquettes. When we ask someone to come for a coffee with us, there is a hidden meaning that we want to connect with that person and would like to make a bond with them. No one would just go to drink a coffee without sharing some information.

When we meet someone new, we might not know about his or her free time at first, and now if in this case we invite them to a lunch or dinner and for any reason that person is not free and refuses, it becomes an awkward situation and hard to come out of. We also might not know about their personal likings for lunch or dinner and if it does not match with ours, again the situation becomes an awkward one. To avoid these kinds of awkward interaction we usually ask the person if they would like to grab a cup of coffee with us, because it is easy drink to order and not much of thinking goes into it while placing the order, which in turn might save some more time to interact with them.

The Caffeine/Drug Angle

Dopamine is a hormone that makes our body feel good. It is produced by the body and can be triggered and stimulated by any external action that makes us feel good, and knowingly or unknowingly we have been doing it for some time when we feel low or sad. Whenever we have a craving for something, there are lot of chemical reactions going inside our body, indicating that the body is deprived of the dopamine and thus the craving is body’s ways of asking us to start the triggering action. Similarly, if we drink a lot of coffee, our body can get used to having that extra level of caffeine and sugar, which in turn help the body get a boost of energy, which in turn gets the body used to having that extra level of dopamine.

Coffee contains a significant amount of caffeine, a drug that helps us stimulate certain parts of the brain to get through a tedious or boring task. Coffee is a habitable substance, that many people think they cannot get through a typical day without it. For example, any person who has been drinking coffee to get their morning boost of caffeine in their system, if asked not to drink their regular cup of morning coffee for just one day, at the end of the day they would come on the conclusion that their day was not good and entire day they felt sleepy and fatigued.

It is true that caffeine gives us a little boost of energy by simulating some parts of our brain but overall, it has multiple side effects if the amount taken is not properly regulated like anxiety, insomnia, digestive issue, high blood pressure, fatigue, rapid heart rate, frequent urge to urinate. (Healthline)

Conclusion

The above stated passages clearly state how an individual has their own special relationship with their coffee, and how the simple act of drinking coffee gives some structure and helps in finding meaning in one’s life. It can also be said that even the simplest aspect of coffee can be related to one's identity. Coffee also generates various functional and symbolic meanings that are intertwined in our lives. It is safe to conclude that drinking coffee is not just a simple part of our lives but it has much deeper connection with the society and our inner selves. “let us go on a coffee” is not just a phrase that indicates an invitation to grab a coffee but a way to interact with someone and acts as an ice breaker in many of the awkward first meeting situations.

References

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