It’s obvious to us now that Starfleet is not fueled by antimatter but rather, coffee.
Be it a raktajino (Klingon coffee) or other caffeinated tea-ish beverage, a surprising number of Starfleet’s finest can’t seem to function without pounding back a pint of the dark stuff before considering yet again whether to fire Chakotay.
In our eyes, Captain Janeway is the golden standard-bearer of coffee consumption in the 24th century, but she’s just the beginning. Without further introduction, we present a stately walk through Starfleet’s love of the bean.
Let’s hear it for those who, while they don’t drink coffee, still need caffeine and are still great captains:
Isn’t it nice to know in the future we’ll still need coffee?
[Most of the images were sourced from TrekCore screencaptures]
Stubby the Rocket is the voice and mascot of Tor.com. Stubby Brand coffee is called Rocket Fuel.
As ‘Fleet is modeled on the US Navy and having been in said Navy, this comes as absolutely no surprise. Take a glance in any old salt’s mug and you’ll see it’ll be carmel brown from years of staining due to the thousands of gallons of coffee that have been in it. I would have thought it odd had there NOT been coffee (or 23rd/4th centry analogue)
Yes, but what will the varieties be like? Coffee beans and tea leaves taste like the character of the places in which they grow. I bet Mars will have a large crop of robust beans with an uneven temperment, depending upon the seasonal hydrogen quantities in the atmosphere.
I bet that terraformers’ ultimate goal is always a smooth cup. They may even have their signature varieties. Some terraformers seem to come up with an environment more suitable for peaberries while others’s planets always seem to make a bean that’s good for French roasts. They get bragging rights based on how good the coffee from their planet is. And don’t get started on the terraformers’ annual wine competition.
Beans? Hardly. Nobody in (TNG-onward) Trek is enough of a coffee snob to drink anything but what comes out of the replicator. It’s the computer science and replicative chemistry departments that do the competition to make the best coffee varieties, not the terraformers.
Ah, but the bean competiton would still happen precisely *because* grown beans are more difficult and prone to chance. Plus, I imagine that Star Trek society shares something in common with contemporary society – while alot of people migrate around or travel alot, the vast majority of people don’t. They like to be marketed the taste of some other place, some place they like to imagine.
I bet every Ferengi household, for example, keeps a bag of coffee from a planet whose soil has a high gold content. The advertisements remind them to imagine drinking that profitable essence. When the double suns set at night over the planet of Industry’s Reward II, the valleys glitter as if they’re a solid mass of coin. Nevermind that the Golden Bean mining company stripped all the gold out of the planet’s veins twenty years ago; there’s probably some dust somewhere on the surface. Right?
“There’s coffee in that nebula.”
Thank you for reminding me of how much I loved early Voyager (seasons 1-3) when the writers actually wrote consistent characterization for Janeway.
Also the bit about whether or not to fire Chakotay almost made me spew my coffee as I was laughing so hard.
“This is my chicken sandwich and coffee. ”
With a side order of tribbles.
(I can’t believe you missed that clip)
I think Siyaha has it. Star Trek characters always seem to treasure homegrown stuff over replicated.
jmeltzer we came so close to posting the screencap of Kirk hoisting the tribble-filled coffee cup but ultimately went with another picture from that episode.
Trek characters sometimes prefer ‘real’ over replicated for some things, but not for their beverages (excepting, of course, when they want real alcohol rather than synthehol). You never see Picard brewing real Earl Grey, and Janeway never morned the loss of the last of her real coffee supplies when she had to switch to replicated.
My guess here is that with liquid refreshments, the replicator really is perfect, producing product that is literally indistinguishable from ‘the real thing’, (while with food it doesn’t get textures quite right, or doesn’t vary them enough, or something like that). There may be some 24th century coffee snobs who claim to be able to taste the difference, but they’d never even consider doing a blind test before wasting vast sums of gold-pressed latinum. (See: modern audiophiles, brilliant pebbles, etc)
Hey, even the tribbles liked coffee. Way to go. Love coffee, love Star Trek.
I can just hear Bones in the morning beside the campfire: “It’s brewed, Jim. Dammit, Jim, I’m a doctor not a waiter. Come and get it yourself. Why you pointy-eared varmint (to Spock, who else?) you wouldn’t know a warm, creamy, cup of coffee if it came up and bit you on the ….”
LOVED those guys.
Wait what, no screencap of Sisko barking an order of “COFFEE, BLACK!!!” into the Ops replicator? And no mention of that godawful decaf Quarktajino (complete with singing mug)??
There had better be coffee in the 23rd and 24th centuries: or I’m not going. Jeez! Even my captcha is a combo of the words ‘roast’ and ‘etcEsta’.
Far Out!!
I’m fairly certain that’s Earl Grey in Jean-Luc’s mug.
Picard drank tea. Earl Grey Tea. Hot. To be precise.
#12 and #13: yes, I believe the article says that. Also mentions Sulu’s tea.
O’Briens double cream double sugar!
‘Starfleet could boldly go etc. without coffee, but we’d rather not try.’
I dunno, I’ve been intrigued by that Cardassian hot fish juice they supposedly have for breakfast. I’d try that. I get my caffeine from Irn Bru. I wouldn’t say no to a deep fried battered tribble either.
I love how in ‘Corbomite Maneuver’ the briefing table is littered with computer cards and tablets, how everybody’s got a cup and there’s a coffee pot. It implies this meeting has been going on for a long time.