Jessica Greene

When the city of Seattle is mentioned in conversation the first thing that comes to most people's mind is the Space Needle, but the second is probably coffee. Seattle is filled with coffee: Starbucks, Tully's, Seattle's Best Coffee, and many other coffee shops. So what is it like to live in Seattle and not like to drink coffee? Well I know that answer to that question first-hand. I can count on one hand the number of times that I have tasted coffee, and each time I had the same response: "Yuck!" I do not like coffee, I have never liked coffee, and I do not think I ever will like coffee.

In Seattle, coffee is not just a drink with caffeine that is made in the morning to get the day started; coffee seems to be a drink that people cannot live without. People drink coffee with breakfast, with lunch, with dinner, before bed, and whenever they have a free moment. In Seattle, drinking coffee has become a social event. I cannot count the number of times that my friends and I have gone out for coffee, as if it is the same as going to the mall or watching a movie. I do not understand the fascination. I like to drink Diet Dr. Pepper, but I do not ever invite people to go out and drink some Diet Dr. Pepper with me.

I do not understand is why I am looked upon as strange because I do not like coffee. Coffee is just a drink. I know a ton of people who prefer diet sodas, to regular sodas, but neither group is considered odd by the other; yet the fact that I do not chose to drink coffee is unthinkable to coffee-drinkers. My mom has told me that I will grow into liking coffee, but why do I need to grow into it? I am not lacking in nutrition by not drinking coffee, and I certainly do not feel like I am missing out on anything in life by not drinking coffee. Yet many people have tried to change my mind. Many of the times that I have "gone out for coffee" with my friends one of them has tried to push his/her drink on me with the notion