• ColombianLenin [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      28 days ago

      I didn’t take the post title seriously but just in case…

      Calling coffee a treat is a bit of an insult to pretty much all the global south bar SEA / East Asia.

      • Umechan [he/him]@hexbear.netOP
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        28 days ago

        Yes, I mainly just wanted a title that sounded snappy and funny. But in all seriousness, I do now see coffee as a treat. I’ve had to greatly reduce my caffeine intake after developing insomnia six years ago. I have hormone deficiencies due to very severe sleep apnea that went untreated for sometime, and I now find that drinking caffeinated coffee keeps me up no matter how early in the day I drink it. Even decaf can keep me up, so I try not to have it any later than 1 pm.

        I now pretty much only drink caffeinated coffee if I want a seasonal flavor (yes, I am in touch with my inner white girl and enjoy a pumpkin spice latte), or if I’m going out for the day an need to stay up later than normal. I normally only have four to six cups of caffeinated coffee each month, so it does feel more like a treat now.

        • ColombianLenin [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          28 days ago

          Considering coffee is part of Colombia’s culture, with festivals, tourism, and a whole identity influenced by coffee…

          Allow me to politely disagree. And I don’t think it’s that different in other parts of the world.

          • Umechan [he/him]@hexbear.netOP
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            28 days ago

            I think you might have misunderstood what I was saying. By “I see it as a treat”, I mean I now consider it a treat for myself when I get the rare chance to have it. I’m talking about it in my own subjective experience, not as something universal. I didn’t see it as a treat when I was drinking more coffee in an average day than I currently do in a month.

    • 9to5 [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      28 days ago

      Im just having fun. I can see the argument against it but I view coffee same with tobacco and alcohol as an important core ressource . Happy cake day

  • 9to5 [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    28 days ago

    Im sorry but calling coffee a treat feels like stretching the definition of the word. Feels like an essential good to millions of people around the world (Hey its even vegan). Now a cake ? thats a treat. But coffee ? Thats a core ressource for many people. One of the things that keeps them going day in and out.

    • Abracadaniel [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      28 days ago

      I’d say it is a “treat” irrespective of its behavior, but we need to to chill out and stop being anxious like the ghost of UlyssesT is going to return and curse us for enjoying something that’s not fundamentally necessary for life.

      communism is not a poverty cult and a strict rohibition on “treats” is not a core communist tenet.

      • departee [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        28 days ago

        Pre imperialism sure. They committed genocides to take control of and expand the spice trade.

        It’s kind of funny how italy gets to have the best european cuisine just by being in the imperial core so long, first during the roman empire, then during the columbian exchange. I guess the climate helped too. Compared to them northern europe took a long time to catch up. It’s crazy how much the working class diet there changed so much even over the last half century

    • departee [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      28 days ago

      I remember Graeber made the point that colonialism was/is often centered around stimulants: sugar, tobacco, coffee, tea, opium, coca. Its the perfect commodity for it because you can induce demand where there is none, whether at home or in the periphery (like china during the opium wars)

    • prole [any, any]@hexbear.net
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      28 days ago

      This is treat revisionism. Coffee is for sure a treat, it’s even addictive. If coffee isn’t a treat then tobacco isn’t a treat.

      • 9to5 [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        28 days ago

        Well an argument could be made that tobacco is in fact a core ressource for many folks like potatoes or rice. So my point still stands. These are the things that make society run so to speak (my post wasnt meant 100% serious though)

          • 9to5 [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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            28 days ago

            Im not saying they are good. Merely that you gotta cope with life under capitalism so it would feel cruel to take away tobacco and coffee from people (even if they are drugs). I still think they are basically essential goods.

            • prole [any, any]@hexbear.net
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              28 days ago

              Nah, I get you. I’m just being obstinate about it for fun. I’m drinking it right now to wash down some Adderall and Wellbutrin. Later I’ll smoke some recreational weed. I love stimulants and might not even exist without them. “Treats” for me and many others are survival, for sure. No way I could work 10 hours a day for 20+ years and facing probably another 30+ years without treats

    • trinicorn [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      28 days ago

      Even if we want to say that caffeine is an important staple for many people, there’s other sources of caffeine besides coffee, specifically saying “my specific preferred kind of coffee or tea is a staple and therefore immune from criticism” is vaguely treatler behavior

      honestly though I’m not particularly interested in passing judgement on the subject (maybe because I too am a coffee addict/self medicating with caffeine). Its kind of a dumb debate with no stakes. I’ll buy my zapatista coffee or whatever and just focus on more pressing stuff

      • 9to5 [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        28 days ago

        Oh I dont disagree with you. I was using coffee as stand in for caffeine but I feel that coffee is the most common form of caffeine intake people have. So it felt ok to use as stand in for caffeine. I think “caffeine” is SUCH a common drug that people use as simple stimulant to get through their days that to me it feels like an essential good. Like as soon as you took care of the barest essentials some form of caffein beverage would be next on my list of wants.

    • Umechan [he/him]@hexbear.netOP
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      28 days ago

      And calling cake a treat is acephobic. It’s insinuating that they should only have the right to be their true authentic selves on special occasions.

  • Satanic_Mills [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    28 days ago

    Treats, like all commodities are a social relation. Coffee becomes a treat by virtue of the relation between the producer(s) and the consumer, hence how the same coffee can be a relatively simple beverage in the periphery and a treat in the imperial core.