If you put New Yorkers on a deserted island and told them they could only have five things to survive, it wouldn’t be the least bit surprising to hear them request iced coffee. Even on a day like today, (it’s raining), people all over the city flock to the nearest Starbucks to get their next java jolt of iced coffee.
frappuccino? not here.
At first I thought maybe iced coffee is just the “it” thing in Soho, where the population is about 80 percent models and fashion people. They just live on iced coffee and cigarettes. Besides, if you frequented Starbucks more than four times per day, iced coffee would be the only thing you could afford, financially and calorically.
I was wrong. Iced coffee is the drink of choice everywhere in this city, not just in skinny Soho. Maybe I live under a rock in Los Angeles because I have never witnessed so much iced coffee drinking in my life. When I walk into a Starbucks these days, the words “iced coffee” seem to come out before I have even considered another option. For all I know, the baristas here might not even be able to make a frappuccino.
Here are my thoughts on iced coffee and why New Yorkers drink it.
1) When coffee is on ice, you can drink it that much faster. You can drink it faster and get the caffeine rush that much quicker. New Yorkers do everything faster anyways.
2) Because it is probably the cheapest thing you can order in any coffee shop (besides hot coffee). In a city where everything costs more than it should, why not cut back on your expenditures on something?
3) The barista, and everyone around you, might try to murder you if you attempt to order another calorie cutting concoction. “Hi. I would like a grande, nonfat capp. with soy milk and a little less foam. Could you also add sugar-free vanilla syrup and a half Splenda packet. Oh, and can you put it in a venti cup, please?” Ya right. It is so much easier to order a grande, unsweetened iced coffee.
4) When it is 90 degrees and uncomfortably humid, iced coffee is the only thing that makes sense.
5) It is just the thing to do. Everyone orders it because everyone else orders it.
-KTS
p.s. Did I mention that I am now addicted to iced coffee?
