The Real Reason Moms Drink Coffee

One of my earliest memories is of coffee. My mom and grandma both drank it and there was always a partially filled cup sitting around somewhere. I very clearly remember picking up one of those cups one day, taking a forbidden sip… and spitting it out across the room. Why on earth would anyone willingly drink that? And now, about 30 years later, I have the answer. Kids.

I do not need to do any research to know that coffee is a billion dollar industry. Not just buying the ground up beans, but have you stepped into any store recently? Coffee mugs, coffee t-shirts, coffee shoes, coffee pajamas…someone out there must really like coffee.

Why yes, yes we do.

But why do moms love coffee so much? What is the real reason? It can’t be the taste, because I’d bet at least half of us don’t even really like coffee, especially without any of the cream, sugar, whipped cream or in Panera’s case, salted caramel drizzle. So I pondered this question over my hot cup of cream coffee the other day, and I think I came up with the answer.

This mug says it all. Coffee is more than an average tasting drink that wakes us up on sleepy mornings. It is our cheerleader, confidant and psychologist. When I’m awake in the middle of the night with a cranky baby, my mind automatically thinks of the cup of coffee waiting for me in the morning. The magic drink that will cheer me on as I start a day filled with diapers, to-do lists, deadlines and tears. When I have a moment to myself and a cup of coffee in my hand, it somehow makes me reflect on my life. As if a shrink is sitting across the room, I mentally reflect on my blessings and talk through how to tackle my hurdles. My friends are not always available to commiserate, but a cup of coffee? It’s only a Keurig or a Starbucks drive-thru away.

Surely you’ve heard or seen the phrase, “But first, coffee.” It has 165,792 hash tag usages on Instagram, so obviously moms are prioritizing coffee before everything else. Okay, not really, but we do talk about coffee a lot in person and on social media. And maybe this reasoning is a little extreme and borders on pathetic, but it’s also pretty true. Drinking coffee brings us all together in some strange way. When you see another mom walking through the grocery store with a toddler hanging out of the car cart they so badly wanted to drive and a baby chewing on the box of cheerios, you next see her cup of coffee. You instantly feel the connection and you know she has her support right there with her. There’s a lot of power in that “I love mom” mug.

I think back to that time as a toddler when I snuck a sip of coffee and I realize I’ve come full circle. My growing coffee mug collection and my trusty hand me down coffee pot are two of my most prized possessions. I find myself saying, “Mommy needs coffee first” on a more frequent basis and I know I’m not alone. And that’s the beauty of it. We drink it because we need to; we drink it because it’s a friend that is always there to help us through this crazy season of life.

And speaking of coffee…I think I’ll go make some.