a cuppa joe

Recently I've begun selling vintage and collectible coffee mugs so I though it might be interesting to look at  the evolution of the mug and find out a bit about the coffee-splosion that has enveloped us over the last 20 years or so.

 Though coffee has been around for centuries cafe culture is relatively new especially to North America. The earliest known cafes/coffee houses in Turkey date to the 14th century. They began as social hubs where artists and philosophers gathered to exchange ideas. Since then we have been gathering around the bean for everything from social chit chat and heated political debate to making it our own personal work spaces.

 Walk into any cafe today and you'll find no less than ten people busilly typing away on their laptops. We write papers, blog, process photos, surf the internet, sell real estate, buy stocks,  and make untold number of other business deals all while supping a warm cup of coffee in a very public place. In some respects nothings's changed, it's still a social gathering place where the dark brew is consumed but one thing that has definitely changed is the size of that cup of brew.

When Bogart ordered a cup a coffee in 1942, it came in a mug about this size.

An 8 oz mug.

Order a  regular coffee today and it comes in mug like this

A 12oz mug.

I don't suppose any of us ever dreamed we'd be paying almost 5 dollars for 1 cup of the stuff but here we are.

Guess it's a good thing then that the size increased  though if it's an exponential kind of thing is this what a coffee cup will look like in 2045? 

Hmmm... I think it's coffee time :-)

Is it in the air, or in the cloth?

Okay, I apologize to any of you who are still deep in winter's grip but I must proclaim it because I can feel it, this palpable lightness in the air. The birds have ceased their huddling and are now singing in the rain. The rain itself is softer, less hostile and stinging than in December. And just yesterday I saw and heard this little hummingbird singing his heart out at the top of this tree. "it's spring, it's spring, come fly it's spring!"

I don't know why but somehow it's sent me back in time, I'm in full nostalgic mode circa 1970. Perhaps it's the youthful air of spring or perhaps the hummingbird that made me think of tropical climes.
This week I ventured to Hawaii with the purchase of this fab tie by Prince Kahio and this surfing shirt by Surfline. The bright oranges and yellows just make me happy. The fabrics polyester and bark cloth are so retro 70's they could have been my mom's curtains. Lol.