Coffee Cup Hangup

This may seem like an unimportant issue compared to the war in Iraq or the 2004 election, but I'm sick of going out for coffee and being given a paper cup even if I want to drink my coffee there. It's not even the wastefulness that bothers me. Coffee tastes better in a real mug, whether it's ceramic, glass, porcelain or whatever. And it feels like more of a special little experience. I think little luxuries/indulgences like caffeine or nicotine are as much about the ritual as they are about the drug that's delivered. Unless I'm taking it with me in the car or walking down the street, having my coffee in a paper cup takes away from that experience. I know at Starbucks you can say "for here", and they give it to you in a real mug, and I wish more places would do this. I'd rather give my money to a local coffee outlet, especially here in the coffee-obsessed Northwest. But for God's sake, get some actual mugs!

Comments

[Neil]

I have to disagree. When offered a mug I ask for a paper cup. This has been the case ever since my sojourn in NYC where I fell in love with the feel of the deli paper cups - that softly rounded ridge, slowly moistening through the drinking experience. I even demand paper cups in restaurants - I am indulged because it's deemed so eccentric. I've also worked out you actually get more coffee; unless, that is, one is offered a cup the size of an urn.

Great choice of novels to the right there, mine notwithstanding.

Which leads me to: does 'notwithstanding' mean 'including' or 'excluding'? - I've never known but continue to use it!