Coffee Poetry—A Cozy Way to Warm up to Your Favorite Beverage

CoffeeMan1 remembers some long days on the road when Koffee Kompanions used to take our products to gift and holiday shows from Colorado to Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri. Sometimes, to help pass the hours, he would write little poems to put inside mugs or bowls—so people stopping at our display booth would get a surprise when they lifted our Kup Kap cup covers to look inside.

Booth 2004 Dallas Kaps display.jpg

Often, they’d say about our Thinsulate-insulated cup lid, “That’s cute” or “That’s neat.” So CoffeeMan1 wrote them such memorable rhymes as:

Yes, I'm cute. And I’m neat.

If you buy me, I’ll keep in the heat!

Or

Hi there, thanks for looking, we like that a lot,

but you have to buy me to keep your beverages hot!

Turns out other people write coffee poetry too

Our experience with this kind of “poetry” made us wonder if serious poets were interested in coffee as a subject. We were astounded to find several websites emphasizing coffee poetry and hundreds of poems dedicated to the divine elixir.*

Some writers opt for brevity and description, such as this recent entry by “Maureen92”

"Coffee"

smell it brewing
tantalising aroma
tickles my nose

taste the rich essence
black with a touch of cream...
chocolate on top
a sprinkle of nuts

Or this from D G Zielinski:

"Cup of Joe"

The aromatic seduction
of Italian espresso
liquifies memories.

l am an addicted lover,
joyously lulled
with the pacification of caffeinated bliss,
savouring
liquid kisses,
ecstasy.

Zielinski’s lover analogy and imagery of love-making are popular devices for coffee poets who seek a way of showing how coffee inspires a lust for flavor and an attraction that leads to addiction.

An extended example is Aurora Kastanias’s "My black strong never lover," which includes several stanzas like these:

From my thoughts to my lips and in my veins, 
I am sickly besotted with you, without you
I’m in pain. I crave for you from dawn to dusk,
Finding relief only in my slumbers, when I dream
Of others, not of you. 

*****
Your loyalty besieges me and I surrender to the smell
Of your strong black hot body, yearning for your taste,
Gulping your exotic essence to the last drop, smoking
Cigarettes before, during and after our ritual intercourse.
I say I love you; they are worried I’m addicted to you.

But CoffeeMan1’s favorite coffee poem happens to come from the pen of his daughter, Colleen Luckett, who began writing poetry as a young child and still narrates her life online. Perhaps you’ll forgive a parent’s indulgence in finishing these examples with her contribution to the genre:

Liquid Salvation

Swirling. Frothing.
Steamy lust gives way to divine perfection.
With your acid hypnotism,
You could resurrect a million ancestors.

Kenya, Hawaii, and Brazil—
You descend on us from distant lands.
Like an ancient scribe,
pontificating the many tales

of your sublime addiction.

Our Pied Piper; you beckon to us.
Futile to escape your scalding embrace,
we follow you to the Promised Land.
Forever awake. Jolted. Buzzed.

You summon the masses,
your brewed excellence offered up.
You are the magnificent elixir of the gods.
for you, Coffee, are salvation in a cup.

If you’ve enjoyed some of these poetic descriptions, you can find many more on websites containing coffee quotes and poetry. Just remember to keep your coffee hot and flavorful while drinking it by using our Kup Kaps for your morning (or evening) joe. They’re the best choice of insulated cup covers for all your hot beverages and come in more than 25 patterns, including books and music.

 
Perry LuckettComment