Facebook Blurb # 33 – The Red and the Green

Search for “coffee” in the Fountain Pen Network-Philippines page, and you will see nearly a hundred entries linking pens with coffee and writing. Is it really any wonder that what Thomas Jefferson called “the favorite drink of the civilized world” should be so inextricably associated with wielders of fountain pens?

Perhaps not. Certainly, there is no dearth of prolific writers and philosophers who were equally copious drinkers of java. French novelist and essayist François-Marie Arouet (better known by his nom de plume Voltaire), who famously uttered “If there was no coffee, it would be necessary to invent it,” was said to have consumed 40 cups a day (and 50,000 in his lifetime, one estimate says). Danish theologian and social critic Søren Kierkegaard routinely piled some 30 sugar cubes into his cup and dissolved it with incredibly steaming black coffee, claims his biographer Joakim Garff. And the renowned playwright Honoré de Balzac downed 50 cups of joe daily, and as his tolerance for caffeine rose, took to directly eating pure coffee grounds.

In a survey conducted by global coffee and baked goods chain Dunkin’ Donuts, writers were No. 4 in a list of professions who consume the most coffee, behind scientists (No. 1), marketing executives and educators.

Not surprisingly, the connection between caffeine and creative writing is scientifically established. A 2012 study conducted by the University of Illinois found out that subjects asked to brainstorm product ideas amid different levels of ambient noise performed much better at about 70 decibels (typical of a bustling coffee shop). Those who were exposed to 50 decibels (a quiet home) or 85 decibels (noise generated by a blender) were not as spurred to turn in a creative performance.

If coffee shops as work spaces are indeed more conducive to creative cognition, it stands to reason that we should regularly behold the FPN’s penthusiasts there, percolating ideas, brewing stories and stimulating intellectual discussion, whilst quaffing their beloved beverage.

Absurdist thinker Albert Camus once posed the existential dilemma “Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?” Personally, I’d rather wake up and smell the coffee.

(featured photo: The red and green versions of the Lamy Studio – the 2014 SE “Wild Rubin” and the 2017 SE “Racing Green” – are in perfect harmony with two of the 2018 Starbucks paper cup designs. )