Java 101

February 19, 2008, 10:30 am; posted by
Filed under Articles, Erin, Featured  | 2 Comments

On Saturday I probably spent the better part of an hour in one print center or another on the Houghton campus. They’ve put one in the library now, which allows one to effectively hermit oneself away there for hours upon hours upon days at a time. (Perhaps days takes it a bit far, but hyperbole is a perfectly acceptable literary device, as far as I’m concerned.) The other, more commonly used (and crowded) print center is in the basement of the Campus Center, right next to Java 101, the closest thing in Allegany County to a Starbucks.

Last night I got a coffee from a Buffalo Starbucks with my ministry team buddies and, although it was quite the delicious mint mocha frap, I got the feeling that I always get when I drink coffee-confections outside of Java 101: I am a little bit homesick.

Perhaps a bit of further explanation is warranted. My freshman year, I had vowed that coffee should ne’er cross my lips, that I would remain unaddicted to caffeine, that I hadn’t the money to waste on drinking water strained through ground legumes (ok…so I don’t know if the cacao bean is a legume).

All this changed one late night during a Cultural Anthropology paper, but that was as much my fault for giving into Chloe’s French Press-made hazelnut deliciousness as anything else. And that became a Java 101 caramel macchiato. And that became a few pounds of Schuill’s from Grand Rapids, MI. And that became the cold hard fact: the coffee machine in our townhouse belongs to yours truly.

Setting my love for (good!) coffee aside — the reason I brought up Java 101 is to discuss how a place can have such a deep meaning for me. Recent conversations have brought to my attention that I tend to value places for themselves — even if what I’ve come to love about them is solely based on experiences I have had there, or people I met there.

Java is a prime example. My good experiences there include reading numerous letters while munching blueberry muffins (courtesy of Houghton College Church Relations), and really thinking all was right with the world. I’ve written several espresso-fueled papers on the little breakfast bar, my feet kicking in a rhythm much faster than my thoughts seem to move.

The Lanthorn literary journal coffeehouse readings/concerts, live music, my first exposure to Regina Spektor, excellent conversation dates, salsa contests — all of these contribute to my feeling homesick for a place where the coffee isn’t always the best, the baristas are sometimes rather awkward, and where, if I’m not careful, I’ll get Brit-wittily insulted a few times during the 11 a.m. hour by Dr. Pearse (Java is a favorite haunt of his at this time, as well).

It might be nostalgia, or rose-colored glasses, or whatever silly feminine attachment you might identify: I simply can’t tell the difference. But I do know that for quite a while, when I think of a good coffeeshop, the image that will pop into my mind is of Java 101.


Comments

2 Comments to “Java 101”

  1. Chloe on February 20th, 2008 8:59 am

    Dang, I love your articles. Have you sent this to the owner? She’d love it! You should probably send it to the Star, too. Or maybe to the Boulder. Come girl, get with it!

  2. Dan on February 22nd, 2008 8:30 pm

    Very good article. Every time I try to have a mocha I miss Java 101 and it’s been 4 years since I last had their coffee.

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