Meet for Coffee

Can we be practical for a moment? Sure—there are times when your entire existence feels like it's wrapped up in making a good impression on a first date. We're talking concert, nice dinner or some adventure that's full of creativity and soul. That's because the person you've asked out is so blue chip in your mind that you practiced saying "Would you like to go out?" for days before your hand ever reached for the phone. For that kind of date, you take a chance. It's not only worth it, but it simply has to be.

And then there are the other 90% of dates where the two of you are mostly checking each other out. In these situations, consider doing yourself and your date a favor by meeting for coffee. If he or she flakes out on you, oh well. Plus you can meet at the coffee house and neither of you needs to know where the other lives. And you don't need to lay down a huge outlay of cash, given how even a trough of cappuccino probably won't bankrupt you.

You can find a good cup of coffee just about anywhere these days. Sit and talk casually while pretending not to be evaluating your date's every word and infl ection. If you are not much for sitting in a coffee shop, take your date and your coffee to the park. Or window shop. Or people watch.

COST

This date should be less than $10.00, but take a $20.00 bill with you just in case.

IMPRESS YOUR DATE WITH COFFEE FACTS

Coffee is the U.S.'s second largest import after crude oil, although they sometimes taste the same.

Every day an average of 450 million cups of coffee are purchased in the United States. Do you have any idea how many extra trips to the bathroom this causes?

Boston Tea Party Trivia: Tea, which was highly taxed by the king, was the drink of choice among settlers in the colonies. After the Boston Tea Party, coffee became the drink of choice. One reason is because coffee was not taxed.

For more coffee facts, check out these sites:
www.nantucketcoffee.com/facts.html
www.coffeeuniverse.com

FRENCH ROAST or FRENCH KISS?

First, the book: Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How it Transformed our World by Mark Pendergrast; $18.00.

Now the plan:
If you want a unique idea, send a copy of this book to the person you want to ask out with a note saying, "How about meeting for, ah, coffee?"

Or consider buying a cool coffee mug and sending it to your potential date with a note that says something like "You bring the coffee, I'll bring the sugar and cream." Okay—forget the sugar and cream, but you get the idea.