Coffee—a drink celebrated and consumed all over the world. Alone, Americans drink about two cups of coffee a piece, every day, and over 50 percent of our population drinks coffee daily. In fact, drinking regular cups of coffee will give you energy and a mental sharpness to tackle the day. It also gives your body much-needed antioxidants and fights diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia. So, keep drinking your regular cups of joe!

However, Americans aren’t the only fans of the black drink. In actuality, our European counterparts have the highest per capita coffee consumption in the world. So how does the world decide to recognize all the awesome aspects of coffee? Mark October 1^st as the international day of coffee, naturally. The day is set aside to celebrate everything you love about your espresso and the millions of farmers who depend on this amazing crop.

Considering the above, we know that coffee is a gift. It’s a household staple that many people have incorporated into their daily lives. While certain snacks seem to bring out the flavors and delicacies of coffee and espresso, there are certain pairings that never go out of style—and we’re not talking about something you can eat. All our bookworms will agree, nothing pairs quite as well with coffee as literature does.

It doesn’t get much better than curling up with your favorite novel and a steaming cappuccino, but, if you don’t believe us, take a minute to think about your local bookstores and the coffee shops you frequent. Chances are, where there is great literature, a great espresso isn’t far behind. Is it a coincidence that there always seems to be a coffee counter strategically placed in bookstores, whether a big chain corporation or a local store? We don’t think so.

 

Take some time out of your hectic schedule to unwind with a captivating story. Plus, since the colder weather is just around the corner, a great way to warm up on a dreary winter afternoon is with a cup of joe and a great story. So, to honor coffee’s best friend (books!) and to encourage everyone to spend some time rereading classic novels and your old forgotten-about favorites, we wanted to bring you some of literature’s best quotes about coffee. Below are some of our favorites:

1. “That’s something that annoys the hell out of me – I mean if somebody says the coffee’s all ready and it isn’t.” – The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

2. “Well, one can die after all: it is but dying; and in the next world, thank God! There is no drinking coffee, and consequently no – waiting for it. Sometimes he would rise from his chair, open the door, and cry out with a feeble querulousness – Coffee! Coffee! – The Narrative and Miscellaneous Papers by Thomas De Quincey (about Immanuel Kant)

3. “The fresh smell of coffee soon wafted through the apartment, the smell that separates night from day.” – Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

4. “ I went out the kitchen to make coffee – yards of coffee. Rick, strong, bitter, boiling hot, ruthless, depraved. The life blood of tired men.” – The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler

5. “Good. Coffee is good for you. It’s the caffeine in it. Caffeine, we are here. Caffeine puts a man on her horse and woman in his grave.” – The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

6. “She poured the coffee, which was so strong it practically snarled as it came out of the pot, and then sat down herself, taking the small cat on to her knee. – The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks

7. “I’d rather take coffee than compliments just now.” – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

8. “A cup of coffee – real coffee – home-browned, home ground, home made, that comes to you dark as hazel-eye, but changes to a golden bronze as you temper it with cream that never cheated, but was real cream from its birth, thick, tenderly yellow, perfectly sweet, neither lumpy nor frothing on the Java: such a cup of coffee is a match for twenty blue devils and will exorcise them all.” – Eyes and Ears by Henry Ward Beecher

9. “December 16. I’m sick for real. Rosario is making me stay in bed. Before she left for work she went out to borrow a thermos from a neighbor and she left me half a litre of coffee. Also four aspirin. I have a fever. I’ve started and finished two poems.” – The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño

10. “For I have known them all already, know them all:

Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.“ – The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by TS Eliot