Letters: Coffee Rituals at the Office

Those Caffeine Rituals

To the Editor:

“Coffee Rites, and the Stories They Tell” (Workstation, May 19) captured a variety of workers’ arrangements for the daily fix of caffeine.

Recently, a couple of co-workers and I pooled our coffee resources — one brought a coffee maker, I brought mugs, and the third has been bringing the coffee. Oh, and I started taking the coffee grounds to a compost drop-off site. We like saving money, not creating trash with disposable paper cups, and knowing our enjoyment will live on as organic matter for somebody’s garden.

But I confess to secretly stopping at the corner cart once a week because I need the connection. “Five sugars?” the proprietor teases me, because he knows I like plain black coffee. I always leave smiling — and that feels better than the caffeine.

RUTH GROEBNER

Sunnyside, Queens, May 19

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To the Editor:

Several years ago, during a particularly challenging transition while at a nonprofit organization in Minneapolis, I worked in an off-site, windowless office where I couldn’t speak with many staff members I supervised. I was generally unhappy in a career I had always loved.

My one daily treat was my six-block walk to a coffee house called Betty’s Bikes and Buns. The owner and his daytime barista became my friends, and I always looked forward to chatting with them. And my daily small skim latte kept me going through each difficult day. Now I am retired and using my kitchen latte machine — but I would probably be healthier if I had a great coffee place to walk to each day!

MARIBETH HITE

Lafayette, Colo., May 20

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