Caffeine Redux

Some comics feature both tea and coffee, usually preferring the latter, but this comic from a 1902 issue of “Punch” is notable for its impartiality:


The passenger’s statement (“Look here, Steward, if this is Coffee, I want Tea; but if this is Tea, then I wish for Coffee”) has been (incorrectly) attributed to a number of people (such as Abraham Lincoln), but it remains unclear who said it first, or whether it was merely composed as a fictional anecdote.


Herman is confronted with an alternative solution:


Buni seems to depict the usual attitude of coffee drinkers towards tea.


Ditto Adam@Home:


Horace has made it clear (multiple times) that he definitely prefers coffee:


It’s hard to say which one it easier to prepare (if you care about doing it well):


Sometimes it doesn’t matter, when it’s just for the caffeine:


Each drink has its own particular traditions.


Coffeeholic Cartoonists, Unite!

Coffee is consumed compulsively by many people all over the world, but cartoonists (who are notorious for keeping odd hours) seem to be especially susceptible to the allure of the drink’s stimulating properties. Given the excessive amount of publicity that many syndicated cartoonists produce for free, it’s remarkable that none of them has managed to land an advertising contract.


Garfield drank his first cup of coffee two weeks before he discovered lasagna.


Similarly, Horace (or perhaps Samson?) has a serious addiction:



P.S. Stahler’s “Moderately Confused” panel was the original inspiration for this entire post; Shannon Wheeler’s Too Much Coffee Man is not just the title, but also the main character of his entire feature.


Here’s a B.C. strip that Brian in StL submitted and was posted two years ago. Brian commented back then that: “It’s not entirely clear to me what’s going on. In a way, the first panels look like the preliminary sketches a cartoonist does. So is the coffee affecting him? Or is Jane now able to ‘focus’ since she‘s had coffee?


Opinions differ on optimum methods of preparation:


Scientists have been researching the heath effects of coffee for decades; this editorial cartoon by Pat Oliphant was published in 1981:


P.S. I was amused by the similarity in viscosity.


Here’s another Dark Side of the Horse (it won’t be the last):


P.S. Spoiler alert: Foreshadowing!