Coffee

A malfunctioning replicator assembles a mug, after dispensing the coffee.

"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. It's got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it."

- Kathryn Janeway (VOY: "Hunters")

Coffee was an Earth beverage, produced from the bean-like seeds of the several types of coffee plant. There were also a number of comparable beverages from other planets that were also considered to be "coffee".

Basic Earth coffee was generally served hot and was a deep brown in color, though it could be modified in countless ways – served frozen or cold, with cream, sugar, or any number of flavorings. It was usually high in the stimulant caffeine, and was used by many for these properties, especially in the morning.

History

In 1986, Doctor Nichols had used a coffeemaker to make coffee in his office. The coffeepot was nearly half full with the beverage. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

Archer's coffee hits a spatial anomaly

The alien trader D'Marr, who was introduced to coffee in 2151, thought it to be "excellent". Upon learning this, Jonathan Archer, who was bartering with D'Marr, offered to have Chef wrap him up 10 kilograms of coffee in exchange for the location of a shipwreck. (ENT: "Oasis")

Jonathan Archer ordered coffee with cream from the drink dispenser in the mess hall while waiting to find Arctic One, which had been assimilated by the Borg. (ENT: "Regeneration")

When Lieutenant Talas was assigned to assist Malcolm Reed with repairs to Enterprise, she found him drinking coffee in the mess hall. (ENT: "Proving Ground")

In an illusion created by the Talosians in 2254, Vina asked Christopher Pike if he wanted coffee. She said the coffee was in a thermos that was hooked to a saddle. (TOS: "The Cage", "The Menagerie, Part II")

When helmsman Lee Kelso visited Gary Mitchell in the sickbay of the USS Enterprise in 2265, Kelso did so during a coffee break. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")

Unpopular Enterprise coffee

Some junior officers aboard the USS Enterprise had a low opinion of the ship's coffee in 2267. When Charlene Masters offered coffee to her colleague, he joked, "Is that an order, lieutenant?" Yeoman Rand's brew, phaser-heated when the galley lost power, was more welcome on the bridge in a time of crisis. (TOS: "The Alternative Factor", "The Corbomite Maneuver") When Hikaru Sulu and his landing party were stranded on the freezing surface of planet Alfa 177, he asked that the Enterprise lower down a pot of hot coffee on a long rope. (TOS: "The Enemy Within")

Captain James T. Kirk sometimes enjoyed coffee, but in 2268, he was dismayed when tribbles that had infested the Enterprise got into his chicken sandwich and coffee that had ordered from a food synthesizer. (TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles")

The Scalosian Deela delivered an agent in a cup of coffee that accelerated James T. Kirk into the Scalosian time frame. (TOS: "Wink of an Eye")

Some believed coffee was capable of curing drunkenness or a hangover, as Dr. Leonard McCoy indicated in 2293; following an unsettling dinner with Klingon chancellor Gorkon on the USS Enterprise-A in that year, McCoy planned to find himself a pot of black coffee. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

In 2367, Miles O'Brien had been drinking too much coffee and was trying to cut back. (TNG: "Night Terrors")

In 2368, Cadet Wesley Crusher invited Robin Lefler over to his quarters for a cup of coffee; she joined him for dinner instead. (TNG: "The Game")

While Jean-Luc Picard was most known for being fond of Earl Grey tea, his preferred breakfast menu, often shared with Beverly Crusher, was coffee and a croissant. (TNG: "The Perfect Mate")

In 2369, after Commander Benjamin Sisko ordered coffee from a replicator on ops, he yelled at Chief Miles O'Brien, having thought that the chief had repaired the replicator. Later, O'Brien ordered a "Hot coffee, black, double sweet," and was surprised about the good coffee. (DS9: "Babel")

While discussing the crew evaluation in 2370 in Ten Forward, a tired Commander Riker ordered two coffees from Ben, a waiter, for himself and Counselor Troi. (TNG: "Lower Decks")

Odo's coffee

Miles O'Brien preferred a Jamaican coffee blend, double strong, double sweet. (DS9: "Whispers") Keiko O'Brien believed he never drank coffee in the afternoon; this formed the basis for Miles' and Julian Bashir's rescue from T'Lani III, only after which did Miles tell his wife that he drank coffee in the afternoon all the time. (DS9: "Armageddon Game")

In 2372, Constable Odo had a conversation with Garak in the replimat, explaining how he could simulate sharing the dining experience with others (despite not needing food) by "creating" food with his own body and reabsorbing it through a mimicking of eating or drinking, reproducing more if need be. In demonstration, he morphed part of his body into a cup of coffee. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior")

In an alternate timeline, Julian Bashir joked that Jadzia Dax was addicted to coffee. (DS9: "The Visitor")

In 2373, when Rom ordered eggs over easy, bacon and corned beef hash for breakfast, Quark sarcastically suggested that orange juice and coffee would be next, and Rom thought this was a nice idea. (DS9: "The Assignment")

Chakotay drinking coffee

Captain Kathryn Janeway was well known for her addiction to black coffee (with no milk or cream). She consistently had a cup first thing in the morning, sometimes in lieu of breakfast (VOY: "The Cloud", "Bride of Chaotica!"), and often refused to start the day without it. She once attempted to give it up, without success. (VOY: "The Cloud") She also occasionally enjoyed what appeared to be espresso. (VOY: "Prime Factors") By 2377, Neelix was intimately familiar with her standing order, "Coffee, black," as she hadn't changed it in seven years. (VOY: "Shattered") However, in an alternate future, Admiral Janeway gave it up in her post-USS Voyager career in the Alpha Quadrant. (VOY: "Endgame") Her first officer, Commander Chakotay, was also known to enjoy coffee on occasion. (VOY: "Scientific Method")

Types of coffee

• Raktajino (Klingon)
• Vulcan mocha (Vulcan)
• "Even better than coffee substitute" (Neelix's invention)

Iced coffee

Iced coffee was essentially cooled coffee served on ice. A Klingon variety, called Raktajino proved a very popular refreshment aboard Deep Space 9.

Geordi La Forge enjoyed an iced coffee while investigating the presumed death of Aquiel Uhnari during the year 2369. (TNG: "Aquiel")

Blends of coffee

• Firenut
• Landras blend
• Paris Delight
• Paksor

Appendices

See also

• coffeemaker
• coffee shop

Additional References

• DS9: "The Assignment"
• VOY:
  • "Waking Moments"
  • "Hope and Fear"
  • "Live Fast and Prosper"

Background information

• A deleted scene from TNG: "The Chase" revealed that Beverly Crusher was fond of a type of coffee known as a Macchiato.
• In a deleted scene from TNG: "Face of the Enemy", Ensign Stefan DeSeve tried to request coffee from a replicator but could only remember the name for it as Vorcha'ak.
• According to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine collector and archivist Penny Juday, the specific mugs used on Deep Space Nine for coffee and raktajino were fabricated by a local fabricator and the art department used specific colors on the series. The red/burgundy ones were used at Quark's Bar, the green ones in Ops, and the light blue ones in the replimat. ("Secrets of Quark's Bar", DS9 Season 1 DVD special features)

Trivia

On May 3, 2015, the International Space Station activated the first true zero-gravity Coffeemaker nicknamed the "ISSpresso." Italian Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti sent out a picture of herself wearing a DS9/Voyager command uniform without rank device while drinking the inaugural cup in the station's observation module with Janeway's quote as a caption.

External links

• Coffee at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Coffee at Wikipedia