What is this obsession with coffee???

[QueenofmyPrinces]

MN seems to be obsessed with coffee....

Someone wants to meet up with friends....they are advised on MN to go for a coffee.

If someone is meeting a guy for a daytime date....MN suggests they go for a coffee.

If someone wants to ask a guy out but is shy....MN suggest she gently ask him out for a coffee.

I just don’t get it. Does nobody drink tea anymore?

In fact, the only time I see a cup of tea being suggested is if someone is in shock or very upset about something that has just happened....they are told to try and calm down and have a very sugary tea.

Every time I read a thread and see coffee as being the ‘drink of choice’ I feel inner rage

In case you hadn’t realised, I am an avid tea drinker and I can’t even bear the smell of coffee, never mind entertain the idea of ever actually drinking it

YABU : yes coffee is always mentioned on here but that’s because it should be the drink of choice.

YANBU - I have no idea why coffee is always suggested and it seems very unfair to simply brush aside the good old English cup of tea

@sammylady37

I say ‘will we meet for a cuppa?’

Interesting, are you Irish?

You’re acting as if coffee has supplanted tea. Which is a bit odd as coffee (and coffee houses) predate the arrival of tea in the U.K.

I asked my colleagues at work if they wanted a Temperance Beverage. They looked at me completely gone out. So I had to explain the origin of the phrase and the temperance movement. One of them patted me on the shoulder and said "every ward needs a Vicky"

You might need to explain it to me too

And explain who Vicky is

Coffee is nectar of the Gods..Tea is good for staining replacement floor boards in old houses.

Tea in coffeeshops is also often a huge rip-off -a bag floating in an un-warmed teapot..yuck.

Because it's what we say, and coffee is less confusing than tea for the reasons mentioned. We also say "It's raining cats and dogs" not "It's raining elephants and giraffes". Is that giraffist? Are we oppressing elephants by constantly referring to household pets?

"'Shall we meet for a rather disappointing pot of tepid tea at the local coffeeshop?''

chomalungma

Loving the link and it sums everything up perfectly.

It’s all about sophistication!!!

I can’t imagine that lady turning up at her handsome neighbour’s apartment, dressed as classy as she was, and asking if he had any tea bags

It’s the least misleading to say -
“Let’s go for a drink” = booze
“Let’s go for tea” = meal? 4pm-ish?
“Let’s go for coffee” = meet you in the cafe for a hot beverage.

As for pp “What did people say before coffee became popular?”
Something c.early Eighteenth Century i expect (see pic of a Coffee House).

Coffee is nectar of the Gods..Tea is good for staining replacement floor boards in old houses.

This reminds me if when I was at school and in history lessons we had to use tea and tea bag granules to stain pieces of paper to make them look like they were centuries old

We also say "It's raining cats and dogs" not "It's raining elephants and giraffes". Is that giraffist? Are we oppressing elephants by constantly referring to household pets?”*

I don’t know if it’s oppressive because I never use the term “it’s raining cats and dogs” because I have no idea what it means or why it’s said.

I might go and google it now because you’ve roused my interest.

It just means go to a cafe... you can have coffee, come, water, tea, whatever when there. It's just been picked up from American TV where they call cafes coffee houses

I think people say it because they are meeting in a Coffee Shop. There’s no such thing as a widely popular Tea Shop nationwide. And “Cafe” translates as Coffee for most of the Europe as well as being the name of an eatery so the names and ideas and intrinsically linked.

When people say “met a guy for OLD for coffee” most of the time they mean they met in Costa/Starbucks/Cafe Nero etc. Relatively safe public spaces with an inoffensive menu that caters for a wide variety of tastes and dietary requirements. A lot of the time they are “going for a Coffee” but will have a hot chocolate, or tea or a soft drink.

It’s just semantics. Meeting for coffee means beverage and possibly cake, any time of day. Going to a cafe could be lunch, breakfast, something a bit more time consuming. Meeting up for tea could mean Afternoon Tea or Dinner dependant on where you are in the country. Meeting up for a drink involves alcohol. A lot of people, including me, would never use the words “cuppa” or “brew” so that’s never going to be a mainstream thing people suggest across the entire U.K. or globally. “Let’s meet for a hot beverage” is never going to take on either. So...Coffee...in a Coffee shop...it is.

I don’t understand why it would bother you so much!

As for "what did people say before coffee" well women weren't going out to meet friends for coffee as they were stuck in the house looking after their eleventy billion children.

I don't like coffee either, I hate it actually.

I look at all these iced coffee things sometimes and they look so nice. I wish they made a chocolate alternative 😅👍🏻

'Going for coffee' really means going to a cafe or coffee shop. The phrase doesn't dictate what drink you should have. You can have coffee, tea, orange juice, milkshake etc.

It’s a phrase like saying it I need to hoover up. I don’t know many people who say I need to vacuum.

I often meet people 'for a coffee' but I have literally never drunk coffee. It's revolting. But that's how language works.

@ChikiTIKI You can ask for the iced “Frappuccino” type drinks to be made without Coffee in all the chain shops. Some of them actually don’t contain coffee as standard and you can get chocolate based ones. Treat yourself next time you are out!

It’s a phrase like saying it I need to hoover up. I don’t know many people who say I need to vacuum.

But whichever of those terms is used, it means the same thing.

Whereas this thread has shown that “going for a coffee” doesn’t actually mean “let’s go and get a coffee”

This thread has just made think of that scene in Grease:

Sandy: My parents want to invite you over for tea on Sunday.
[the gang freezes, listening in]
Danny: I don't like tea.
Sandy: [laughing] You don't have to drink tea.
Danny: I don't like parents.

Im allergic to coffee, I'm still happy to "go for a coffee" in the understanding that this is a colloquial expression for a fairly brief and informal meet up. Cafes are handy for this, in recent years, Starbucks etc have cornered that market in many towns, so I guess that may be a reason for the ongoing use of "coffee", but as PP, coffee houses have been around for centuries.

Going for tea, sounds a bit ambiguous as if food might be involved, or even a cooked meal depending on how you use the word (people differ- there is no right or wrong). I often 'meet for a coffee' but drink tea.

@CorianderLord

It just means go to a cafe... you can have coffee, come, water, tea, whatever when there. It's just been picked up from American TV where they call cafes coffee houses

Coke*

This thread has just made think of that scene in Grease:

Sandy: My parents want to invite you over for tea on Sunday.
[the gang freezes, listening in]
Danny: I don't like tea.
Sandy: [laughing] You don't have to drink tea.
Danny: I don't like parents

Great film and great scene!!

If someone ever asked me out for a coffee my instant response would be, “I don’t like coffee.”

Nobody I know would ever ask me to meet up for a coffee though as they know I don’t like it.

But whichever of those terms is used, it means the same thing.

Hoover is a specific brand of vacuum cleaner, so perhaps people shouldn't say it if they aren't going to vacuum with their Hoover?