How do you know when something is irrevocably ingrained into cultural society? When it's used as the basis for one form of artistic expression or another. But that's only the half of it. It's also when it's ignored as second nature when used in a form of artistic expression. Can you remember the last time you heard the word "coffee" or the term "coffee cup" in a song? I can't, but at least I can remember the songs.

Coffee and Music

In 1972, Carly Simon released the song "You're So Vain" about a self-absorbed lover. These lines from the lyrics have stood out for at least 37 years:

The song has been covered by other artists and some non-musical celebrities as well. It's been sampled for other songs by still other artists; such is the longevity of a song that merely stayed at the #1 position on certain music charts for three weeks.

The British pop group "Take That" released "Back For Good" in 1995. The term "coffee cup" stood out because it was so near the beginning of the lyrics, even though it was fairly short:

These are only two examples I can think of off the top of my head and I'm sure there are more. Unfortunately, I only listen to music online now and don't hear stuff like this very often anymore.

Clouds and Other Things in your Coffee

If you do a Google image search, using terms like "coffee clouds" or "coffee art", you can find some amazing pictures of artistic designs made on the surface of the coffee inside coffee cups.

While the designs captured won't last very long before someone drinks the coffee, the photos will last forever on the Internet. So, while the original art is temporary, the lasting art is virtually permanent.

What good is artistic expression in the first place if it doesn't have some kind of permanency in cultural society? That's simply food (or a drink) for thought.

(Original Image Source: Parasol Unit and Keith Tyson)

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The logo and style of the can may have changed since I was young, but the Folgers coffee can is something I can distinctly remember, along with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafting its way from our glass percolator. Good times and good coffee in the original grind is something I am unlikely to ever forget. (My grandmother used to use an empty Folgers can as a spittoon she kept outside her front door. Yuck!)

Regular Grind versus Automatic Drip Coffee

I don't know if it's just me, but some I think something was lost in the transition between regular grind and automatic drip coffee and Folgers coffee is no exception. The aroma isn't the same and doesn't invade my senses as I wake up in the morning.

Does Folgers sell regular grind, the kind made for percolators, anymore? I don't know because it isn't sold locally (in Olongapo City, Philippines). I can find the automatic drip kind and the Folgers coffee crystals (instant), but not the regular grind.

I'll soon be buying an automatic drip coffee maker, but I may end up buying a percolator as well, if I can find one. Even if I have to grind my own coffee beans, I think the flavor and the aroma will be worth it. Of course, it's low on my "to do" list because I have a lot of home things to take care of first and I need to take care of them within the next six months.

Do you remember Mrs. Olsen? She was the lady in the commercial that said Folgers was the best coffee because it was mountain grown, the freshest kind. I don't know about all that, but that was replaced by something along the lines of "the best part of waking up, is Folgers in your cup". A coffee cup, I presume.

To wrap up my soliloquy, I present you with:

The Best Part of Waking Up

A sweet little boy surprised his grandmother one morning and brought her a cup of coffee. He made it himself and was so proud. He anxiously waited to hear the verdict on the quality of the coffee. The grandmother had never in her life had such a bad cup of coffee, and as she forced down the last sip she noticed three of those little green army guys in the bottom of the cup.

She asked, "Honey, why would three little green army guys be in the bottom of my cup?"

Her grandson replied, "You know grandma, it's like on TV, The best part of waking up is soldiers in your cup."

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What's the difference between a coffee cup and a coffee mug? While the terms are used interchangeably, there actually is a difference. A coffee cup, per se, holds one cup of coffee. A coffee mug, on the other hand, holds more than a cup. How much coffee a coffee mug can hold depends entirely on the design of the mug.

Coffee Mug Collectors

There are a whole lot of people who collect coffee mugs, just like numismatics collect coins. I don't know what special term is used for coffee mug collectors, but I've know quite a few of them over the years. Many of the people I've known to collect coffee mugs were in the military, just like I was for 20 years.

These were people I knew as well as people I worked with. I never specifically collected coffee mugs, but I built up a collection nonetheless. It seems like I obtained a mug for every military unit I was with, for every Marine Corps birthday ball, for every recruiting function and everything between the gaps.

Some of the people I knew were fanatics about their collections, displaying them in special display cases in their homes or even at work.

A Dirty Coffee Cup is in the Mind of the Owner

Early in my military career, I cleaned a coffee mug for a senior enlisted fellow and he freaked out on me. Literally. I learned, and quite quickly I might add, that people like that wanted that nasty looking brown color on the inside of the mugs. Don't ask me why. I was constantly cleaning the coffee mugs I used.

The only time I ever saw one of the fanatics clean a coffee mug was when he left coffee in the mug, sitting out on a desk over the weekend. When he returned to work, there was green stuff floating, growing on the top of the liquid. I don't know what that stuff is, but it looks disgusting.

I'm a fanatic about coffee, but not about coffee mugs. Any coffee mug will do the trick for me. In fact, I only have four coffee mugs in my house here in the Philippines and I'm using one of them right now.

The Night Market at Subic Bay

Next to a carnival attraction called "Millennium", which is open for months out of the year, there's a night market. On the Christmas before last, one of my sisters-in-law bought a huge coffee mug from that night market and had my name "burned" onto it — "Richard" in some kind fancy writing. It held two times what a normal (if you can call any mug normal) coffee mug would hold. Now, since I'm the only Richard within a one-block radius, nobody could swipe my mug to use as their own without being seen by someone.

Alas, about two months ago, my younger son decided to make coffee for me. I was upstairs in my bedroom (where I am now) and doing my thing on the computer. By the way, my master bedroom is huge; it's big enough to hold two king-sized beds side by side. Anyway, he took my mug downstairs to get me coffee. While he was filling the coffee mug with hot water from our water dispenser, the bottle emptied. The mug was sitting on the spot where the water spillage goes, whatever you want to call it. He didn't move it before changing the water bottle and the jostling of the dispenser caused the mug to fall off and onto the floor. It's a tile-covered cement floor, I might add.

All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty-Dumpty together again. Or, in this case, my coffee mug. I don't know when I'll ever get another one quite like that.

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