T. S. Eliot "Coffee Spoons"

Move over, tea, your petticoat needs fluffing. Enter the bold and bitter beverage of the people - spread from Ethiopian goat herders to Ottoman warriors to Arab mystics to Italian factory workers to American revolutionaries to you and me, all of the less-fussy half of the world united in its appreciation of the humble cup of Joe. You can keep your doilies, pal, I’m good with my paper cup of a drink so simple and easy to prepare, that every diner in the country can manage to make the "world’s best coffee!”

OK, we get it. Coffee is awesome. But what about this coffee spoons as a measurement of time business, Mr. Eliot? Well, why not? Do you have a better idea? What have clocks done for civilization except stress us out over being late for stuff? Coffee spoons are surely the superior way to synchronize. Good morning, gang! Let’s fire it up.

In our illustration, a spoon swirls the clock-like contents of a coffee cup, which spiral down the minutes, hours, days and years of morning pick-me-ups, afternoon gabs, coffeehouse debates, first dates, and daily buzzed out bliss. Here’s to the Boston Tea Party: Thanks for getting the party started, King George.

See the print.

The quotation is from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot, which was published in the June 1915 issue of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. You can see our illustrated version here.

Let Us Go Then: our illustrated version of The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot.

Would you rather have tea?