Coffee or “Buddy, Can you Spare a Dime?”

by Larry Cohen c 2026

Growing up, I was never given coffee to drink. Tea, yes. Coffee, no. I was never really given a solid reason for not having coffee, but something like “it will stunt your growth” may have been mentioned, though I can’t remember clearly.

So, when I was a junior or possibly a senior in high school, I would, on occasion, have lunch at a nearby lunchette right across from the high school. “Chuck’s” wasn’t much of a place. Although it was called “Chuck’s”, there was no one there who was named Chuck. In fact, if anybody had the nerve to call the cook/waiter “Chuck”, you would get a half-growl back with “My name ain’t Chuck”.

This is where I learned to drink coffee. At that time, I would fill the traditional-looking luncheonette coffee cup of the era with enough sugar and ersatz cream (milk) to make the mixture as sweet as a milkshake. However, gradually I reduced the sugar to the point where by the time I was a freshman in college, I never used sugar at all, only milk. I think I did this more as a cultural habit rather than for taste since none of my coffee-drinking friends in college ever added sugar to their coffee. In fact, they never even used the handle on the coffee cup, but rather would wrap their hand around the cup, New York City, East Village style. I gradually adapted the same wrap-around habit.

Getting back to my early coffee drinking years at Chuck’s, I had to admit that, to me, drinking the coffee was an awakening. All of my senses seemed to respond to the coffee or possibly the caffeine in the coffee. I even felt that this wonder drink changed a dark, gloomy day into a bright sunny day, even if the Sun was nowhere to be seen. Frankly, I loved the stuff. However, I still felt like it was like a forbidden fruit. I could buy and drink as much as I wanted at Chuck’s, but I would never have any at home.

One time, having ordered a cup of the dark matter while waiting for my mother to give me a ride home, the coffee was served just as she arrived. I left the completely untouched cup of coffee on the counter rather than be seen drinking it. That never happened again. After that, I made sure I was never going to be bothered by my parents while having coffee at Chuck’s.

Oddly enough, when I returned home for my first break as a Freshman in college, my own parents set out a coffee cup for me. I hadn’t asked for it. They just did it and I never questioned nor said anything about it. However, my father did comment on the fact that , “…I was never taught not to use the handle on a cup”. To my embarrassment, I realized that I was not using the handle any longer. Until this day, nonetheless, I don’t use the handle on a coffee cup which has now changed to a coffee mug at home and in many casual dining restaurants. If the restaurant uses nice, ironed white cloth napkins with a nice white tablecloth, however, don’t expect to be drinking coffee in a mug.

Is coffee good for you or bad for you? Despite reading many studies, I still am not sure. Possibly, the ingredients in coffee may prevent early-onset dementia. I am pointing out that studies have shown that caffeine alone, apart from coffee, does not have this same effect. Thus,I refer to the “ingredients” in the coffee since no one to my knowledge has parsed these ingredients to the point of absolute, irrefutable proof as to exactly which one holds the medicinal quality.

It would be impossible to address all of the negative effects of coffee on such organs as the heart, viz, atrial fibrillation, blood pressure, as well as other organs (even including teeth stains), but suffice to say that in my own life, the balance is more pro-coffee than agin it.

Finally, from the title of this piece, “Buddy, Can you Spare a Dime?” ( c. 1932), the only time I can remember paying a dime, i.e, ten cents, for a cup of coffee was at Chuck’s. These days, one cannot even get an empty cup for a dime at a Starbucks(™) (I don’t like their coffee) or at a Dunkin’ Donuts(™) . In the early 1990s, I became more selective about the coffee I drank and began having the coffee beans shipped from a roaster in South Miami. When the shipping costs almost equaled the coffee costs, I gave that up. However, I still only buy coffee as roasted beans and grind it every night before it goes into the drip coffee maker.

At some point, I will address other coffee-related topics such as coffee types, coffee makers, grinders, Starbucks(™), and other aspects of coffee drinking that I have discovered over the years. Until then. “Here’s to you.”