What's in Your Cup?

In my last blog, I brought up the topic of coffee shops. We have been to many coffee shops across the continents. Some coffee shops are rather plain; others go to a great deal of effort to decorate their spaces. It seems common for the purveyors of caffeinated bliss to post signs with various kinds of cute or wise sayings, and that will be the focus of this blog.

For this piece, I will share signs and sayings that particularly relate to the handiwork of the baristas of the world.

I will begin close to home, in the town of Woodlake, a quaint village at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Tulare County. A coffee shop with the strange name of Munchies can be found on the east side of Highway 245 (North Valencia Blvd.). With a name like that, I wasn't sure whether I was going there to eat or drink coffee. Inside of Munchies you will find a proverb that, even if you disagree with the first part, you may agree with the second.

Munchies Coffee in Woodlake, California

It's hard to argue with the statement that Good Friends are a Treasure. I can also relate to good coffee being a pleasure. But there is such a thing as bad coffee, which is not a pleasure, and fortunately they did not serve me any at Munchies. Because elsewhere I read that Life is Too short for Bad Coffee. That was the sentiment shared on the wall of The Coffee Shop in Mariposa.

Life is Too Short for Bad Coffee

Unfortunately, life was also too short for The Coffee Shop, as I no longer see it on Google Maps. But back to Munchies Coffee. On another wall of that establishment we find a much more bold statement.

Everything Gets Better with Coffee

Everything Gets Better With Coffee, the saying goes. For some, it even improves their blood pressure scores, that is, if you are looking for higher grades.

From Woodlake, we will travel to the north of Fresno to the city of Madera. Madera is one of the many "M" towns along Highway 99: Madera, Merced, Modesto, and Manteca. These are all Spanish words, which translate wood, mercy, modesty, and lard, respectively. (Fresno is also a Spanish word meaning ash tree, but that's a story for another day.)

One day, we were coming into Madera from the east, having taken the back roads from Oakhurst through Raymond. We had already had a picnic lunch at the Fresno River Recreation Area and we were looking for a place that might sell us a blended mocha. We pored over Google Maps and found a place called Charita's. At Charita's they sell ice cream as well as coffee. And they also sell succulents. (I'm not sure what succulents have to do with coffee and ice cream, but that's how it is.)

There was one sign posted at Charita's that used a play on words, Love You a Latte.

Love You a Latte

Well, they did not love me enough to get a free latte, but the blended mocha was good—though perhaps sweeter than we needed. Elsewhere they had posted a rewrite of Matthew 19:26 that went: With Enough Coffee, Anything is Possible.

With Enough Coffee Anything is Possible

Well, Jesus might disagree with this statement, but apparently not everyone does. This statement is also fairly open, because anything could include good things and bad things; wise things or foolish things.

We'll travel up the road from Madera to Mariposa, to the now defunct The Coffee Shop. Their walls had a lot to say about the beverage that replaced beer as the breakfast of choice in Britain many years ago. I'll begin with one of their milder statements: First I Drink the Coffee, Then I do the Things. I like the use of the definite article in this saying. The coffee. The things.

First I Drink the Coffee, then I do the Things

That one was fairly innocuous, but this next one was a bit threatening: Just Give Me the Coffee and No One Gets Hurt.

Just Give me the Coffee
and No One Gets Hurt

I wonder if they ever had a threat like that. Mariposa does seem like a bit of an outlaw western town. Maybe that's why they had to close. Another sign in The Coffee Shop also seemed like a bit of a warning: Drink Coffee—do Stupid Things Faster With More Energy.

Do Stupid Things Faster with More Energy

The last sign I'll post from The Coffee Shop had to do with the aroma of the morning brew—Good Morning: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee.

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

With that, we will waft on the coffee fumes over to Thailand, where there are other coffee shops that call out the morning fragrance.

Just up the road to the northeast from Big C in Kalasin City is Ellie Cafe. (The Ellie is pronounced ee-lee with a rising tone on the second syllable.) Their coffee cups shared the same sentiment as The Coffee Shop—Wake Up and smell the Coffee, though it is a bit hard to read the font.

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

To the southeast of the city of Kalasin, in the small village of Dawn Han, Sae Jom Coffee also called out the fragrance of coffee, proclaiming on their window: I Like Coffee—Smell It and Taste It.

Smell and Taste the Coffee

Unfortunately, Sae Jom Coffee seemed to be closed more than it was open, and later on two more coffee shops opened in their village including Order Here Coffee, which I mentioned in my previous blog.

I like coffee, but caffeine really doesn't affect me a whole lot. So while I enjoy a good cup of coffee at the beginning of the day, I can also enjoy one before I go to bed. Most people, it seems, are not wired this way. These folks struggle to begin their day without a caffeine fix. This next group of signs is for them.

I'll begin with a sign we saw at Ban Toem Phlang coffee shop in the village of Thanya, Kamalasai District, Kalasin, Thailand. This coffee shop was attached to a restaurant, but it closed down when the proprietor moved to Bangkok. Life Begins After Coffee is the sentiment expressed on this sign.

Life Begins After Coffee

This same sentiment was shared at Coffee Arigato at the Laem Thong Mall in Bang Saen, Chonburi Province.

Life Begins After Coffee

The folks at De Herdt Gardens in Barrhead, Alberta, Canada, seem even more desperate for their morning brew. "I would say good morning but I don't think I've had enough coffee yet" is the saying of a true addict.

Frazzled Cat at De Herdt Gardens

Other folks may be able to get going without their coffee, but the buzz enables them to keep going stronger and longer. This is the feeling expressed at a coffee shop, whose name I don't remember, in the Com Thong District of Chiang Mai. "Coffee. You can sleep when you're dead," declares the sign.

You can sleep when you're dead!

Chao Yan Yen Coffee (the name means "morning until evening") in Nong Khai puts a note on their cups to remind you that life is short, and coffee will help you stay awake for what little there is of it.

Life is Too Short

There are others who seem to need coffee to get their inspiration. Blue Gold Coffee in the Tha Sadet Market in Nong Khai comes right out and says it: Cup of Your Inspiration.

Inspiring Coffee in Nong Khai

Cake Lamoon Coffee—our favorite coffee shop in Phon Phisai in the province of Nong Khai—puts it a little differently: Great Ideas Start With Great Coffee. These guys started out as a modest shop with a good vibe. Then they made it even better by roasting their own beans and adding a bakery where they make all the stuff they sell. So if you're ever in the area, go get inspired with some great ideas (and great coffee and great food).

Great Ideas Start With Great Coffee

Still others have the opposite idea. Instead of using coffee time to be inspired with great ideas, they recommend using it as a time to take a break from thinking. This neon sign, Stop Thinking, Start Drinking, appears to have been made for a bar, but it ended up in a coffee shop called Cham Cafe in the city of Roi Et.

Stop Thinking Start Drinking

There are a bunch of coffee shops who draw a connection between love and coffee, either the love of coffee or the relationship between human love and coffee. I suppose some people might be challeged separating the two. Anyway, these next images will call attention to these.

Good Time Coffee, a coffee shop that used to exist at the Kasemrad Siriburin Hospital in Chiang Rai, was fairly direct about the relationship between Love and Coffee with the bold statement "Love Coffee" in big letters on the wall.

Love Coffee

Sea Street Coffee in Pranburi (Prachuap Kiri Khan Province), took a cue from the Beatles, "All You Need is Love & More Coffee.

All You Need is Love, Well Maybe Not Quite All

Sweetheat Coffee was a really cute coffee shop in the Chai Wan District of Udon Thani. The decor was full of hearts and similar romantic motifs. One would think that a place like this would draw a connection between coffee and human relationships. But, no, you can skip the love because All You Need is Coffee.

Or Maybe You Don't Need the Love After All

If you can't you have love, then at least maybe you can find happiness. After all, this is the weekend when we celebrate the occassion when our American forefathers wrote about the right to pursue happiness. I wrote elsewhere about a coffee shop that promises happiness in your cup.

Piamsuk=Full of Happiness

Other coffee shops indicate that you may need more than just coffee to find that happiness. At Brown Coffee Bar in the city of Kalasin, we are told that you also need cake: Happiness is a cup of coffee and a good piece of cake.

Will a Cookie Do if I Don't Have Cake?

And if cake isn't your thing, then the folks at this coffee shop at a Caltex gas station south of Chiang Rai would have us know that Coffee with a friend is like capturing happiness in a cup.

Coffee + Friend

And if happiness just seems too elusive for you, remember that You can't buy happiness, but you can buy coffee. Such was the wisdom from Tam Sabay (make yourself comfortable) Coffee in Lat Krabang.

The Best Thing Money Can Buy

Some coffee shops are less philosophical. Hom Kaew, a small coffee stand down the street from where we lived in Kamalasai, Kalasin, stuck with a simple definiton of coffee on their cups.

How Do You Define Coffee

Well, maybe that is not the definition you might find in Merrimam-Webster, but it will do.

And this coffee shop in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos, devoted a wall to the benefits of coffee.

Just in Case You're on the Fence About the Magical Brew

Some coffee shops leave us wondering what they are actually feeding us. That coffee shop in Com Thong, which told us that we can sleep when we are dead, puts this on their cups:

What Exactly Did I Order?

PEA in love! What exactly is in this cup.

Canada's Tim Hortons seems to generate a lot of strong emotions. Some people seem to swear it is the best coffee and others seem to think it gives Canada a bad name. But leave it to Tim Hortons to keep the mystery going: Same Secret Recipe Since 1964.

Not Sure I'll Get Coffee at Timmy's Anymore

Secret recipe!?! I just want roasted coffee beans and water! I'm not a great fan of Starbucks, but after reading this cup, I think it might be a better option.

While we may be confused about coffee and love and relationships and secret recipes and caffeine addictions, at the end of the day just remember: Life isn't perfect, but your cup of coffee can be.

Life Doesn't Always Go As Planned

And with that, I think I'll have another sip.