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Elizabeth Wimer, a professor at the Whitman School of Management, describes her love for coffee as “serious.”

“I can even tell you a pound of beans in my house lasts about eight days. So we get down to how often we need to reorder,” she said.

Whether it’s a student with 16 credits worth of classes or a professor with a stacked mountain of assignments to grade, coffee is the source of energy many people rely on to power through their day. The drink is so valuable to the Syracuse University community that on busy mornings students may encounter a tightly-packed Starbucks on Marshall Street or lines of over 40 people at the Dunkin’ in Schine Student Center.

With National Coffee Day taking place yesterday and International Coffee Day coming up on Friday, SU students and faculty shared their coffee drinking habits, how they like their morning joe and what they look for in coffee beans for home brewing.

Emily McGrath, an SU freshman, doesn’t mind the usual morning rush at Dunkin’ in Schine. In fact, she said she appreciates the atmosphere, and having a cup of coffee makes her day.

“I love the energy here,” she said. “I came from a huge high school, so when I see all these people in a rush, I do like it. It gives me a sense of comfort.”

McGrath first started drinking coffee when she was around 12 and worked as a barista at her hometown Dunkin’.

Ellie Lozow, another freshman, said that while she gets her coffee from various places, she sometimes goes to Starbucks to avoid waiting in line.

“(My friend and I) wanted to mobile order, and we knew it would be faster if we came here,” Lozow said while grabbing breakfast from Starbucks with her friend.

Lozow’s mom introduced her to coffee three years ago. Other coffee drinkers on campus said their family members passed on a coffee habit to them as well.

Wimer’s passion for the beverage is inherited from her family, too. Her grandma gave her her first cup — 90% cream and 10% coffee — at 5 years old, she said. Over time, she steadily decreased the amount of additives in her coffee until she was able to drink black coffee.

Willow Keith, an SU senior, started drinking coffee in high school, and she credits her mom for introducing her to the drink.

“I’m in a coffee family,” Keith said. “My mom was the person that introduced me to coffee.”

Now, as a barista at People’s Place for the past three years, Keith drinks as much as five cups a day, she said. For others, the caffeinated beverage and cafes play a large role in their life, even if they don’t drink it regularly.

Ares Taylor, another SU senior and People’s Place barista, said that they only drank two cups of coffee in September. Despite not being a heavy coffee drinker, the on-campus coffee shop holds a special place in their heart because of the loose and fun work atmosphere in comparison to larger coffee corporations.

Bob Thompson, a trustee professor of television, radio and film, rarely drinks coffee because of the bitter taste but still sees the drink as an important tenet of society, referring to coffee as an “energy lubricant.”

“If oil is the fuel of an industry, coffee is the fuel of the humans that work in it,” he said.

Thompson, who has taught a course on the survey of American popular culture, doesn’t have a clear-cut answer on why coffee is so beloved, but he does have some ideas. In the course, he gave a lecture on Starbucks and its popularity.

With the introduction of cafes like Starbucks, coffee prices rose, but by adding features like Wi-Fi and aesthetic surroundings, Thompson said Starbucks has changed the social atmosphere of cafes everywhere.

“Starbucks kind of presented itself as not just a place you go to get coffee, but as a lifestyle,” Thompson said.

we’re so excited to share that we will be brewing up with @peace_coffee this semester! :peace_symbol::turtle::purple_heart:. Since 1996 Peace Coffee has prioritized responsible and sustainable partnerships, they are fair trade organic from small grower cooperatives that invest in local farmers. Also Peace Coffee is a certified B Corp and has a range of bold and fun flavors. We can’t wait for you to try! *tenative opening is set for August 30th and supplies will be limited

A photo posted by peoplesplacesu

Wimer now has such a deep appreciation for coffee that she aims to buy coffee that isn’t just fair trade in name, but fair trade in its harvesting practices as well. Fair trade coffee refers to a certification given to coffee produced with standards that promote safe and sustainable conditions for workers and the environment. Buying fair trade directly supports coffee harvesters, such as families in developing countries, as they compete with the rest of the global coffee market.

Wimer prefers to support fair trade, organic growers because she’ll know that her beans are organic, it guarantees there wasn’t any abuse or unfair treatment of laborers, and it supports small farmers, she said. The professor has noticed a handful of companies that say they are fair trade in name but not in practice, so the professor looks for exactly where her beans are sourced. This sometimes leads to her not being able to find the coffee she’s looking for.

“I’m forever chasing Papua New Guinea beans,” Wimer said. “They’re very hard to find and especially since I’m committed to finding them from a fair trade grower.”

This semester, People’s Place started brewing fair trade coffee. On its Instagram page, the student-run cafe announced that it has started using Peace Coffee, which is a fair trade, organic coffee that comes in a variety of flavors like light roast blend Morning Glory and dark roast blend Tree Hugger.

Besides being a location to purchase the beverage, cafes and other locations that sell coffee serve as a place for social interactions. Because of the invention of decaffeinated coffee, along with coffee breaks being a staple in American culture, coffee is more than just an energizing drink, Thompson said.

“The presence of decaffeinated coffee continues to argue for the fact that coffee is not just about being a stimulant,” Thompson said. “It isn’t just about a hot beverage anymore.”

Published on September 30, 2021 at 12:04 am

Contact Siron: sthoma10@syr.edu | @sironthomas