4 Spiritual Lessons in a Cup of Coffee

The last statistic I saw estimated that, across the globe, humans drink 2.25 billion cups of coffee every day. Assuming one cup per person (not a safe assumption, especially for me, but let’s go with it), that’s 27% of the global population drinking coffee today. And again tomorrow. And the day after that. That’s a lot of hot bean water.

I got into coffee in college, when being a barista was the coolest job a millennial could have. I didn’t even drink coffee when I started—and didn’t know the difference between a pour-over, a French press, and an Aeropress.

Incredibly, 13 years later, coffee is still my full-time gig. I’m currently the head roaster at a small-batch roastery and coffee shop in southwestern Ohio. Spending a significant part of my life in coffee has taught me more about God and loving other people than I ever expected it to.

Here are four unexpected lessons I’ve learned while roasting, pouring, and serving hot cups of coffee for over a decade.

Nothing Is Ordinary

With so much coffee consumed around the world, it’s easy to write it off as ordinary. Nothing could be further from the truth.

How crazy is it that what we call a coffee “bean” isn’t technically a bean at all? It’s a seed. It grows in a bright red fruit called a coffee cherry. Generally, one cherry fruit contains only two seeds.

At some point, people had to find the coffee cherry trees, think to extract the seeds, roast them over a fire, grind them up, pour hot water over them, and then filter out the grounds. Whose brain actually works like that? Not mine.

Familiarity has a dangerous way of blinding us to the extraordinary right under our very noses. It’s why people who live on the coast rarely go to the beach, or people who live in Colorado don’t fill their Instagram feeds with sunsets taken over the Rocky Mountains. When we see (or drink) something every day, it begins to lose its magic.

Coffee truly is remarkable. And it reminds me that every person walking in the door of our coffee shop is too. Everyone has their own story, their own history, their own challenges they’ve overcome, and their own hopes and dreams for the future.

Throughout Scripture, God points to the same idea. The Bible teaches us that we are each fearfully and wonderfully made; that God knew us intimately before we were even born; that we are all made in His image; and that He calls us a masterpiece.

No cup of coffee is ordinary. And no person is either—and that includes you.

Look For The Bigger Picture

Coffee reminds me just how connected and dependent we are on each other.

Coffee cherry trees only grow in certain conditions, and for the most part, none of those conditions occur within the continental United States. That makes us completely dependent on other countries to provide us with the sweet black drink that feeds our caffeine habits.

Research says that, on average, 15 sets of hands will come into contact with coffee before it reaches me, the roaster. That’s 15 opportunities for the coffee to be handled with care, and also 15 opportunities for it to be mishandled, mismanaged, or mistreated.

Sadly, the coffee industry has a well-documented history of injustice.

Customers sometimes scoff at $3 for a cup of coffee, especially when they get it at a gas station down the street for 80 cents, but there’s a lot packed in that $2.20 difference.

In many coffee-producing countries, unjust labor practices rob coffee growers of livable wages, and protections against abuse are uncommon. That 80-cent coffee comes at a high cost, one paid by the men and women working hard every day on tropical coffee farms.

Many coffee roasters, ourselves included, try to combat this by cutting out the corporate middlemen. Instead, we form direct relationships with coffee farms. We get to know their names, their stories, and their lives. Doing so allows us to ensure proper compensation is given to these farmers and their employees, and makes our gigantic world a little smaller.

The Bible speaks clearly on how we should treat other people. It’s an expectation that God’s people love and care for others, and work to end systems of injustice. To God, it’s better to have a little and be righteous, than to have a lot and inflict injustice.

In Isaiah 1:17, the prophet encourages us all to:

“Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.”

The choice to spend a few extra dollars on a quality cup of coffee has positive ripple effects you may never see. But it matters to the farmers, and ultimately, it matters to God.

Those few extra bucks for a cup of ethically produced coffee—that’s you doing your part to stop injustice. Look at you, world changer.

If It’s Important, You’ll Need Focus

Coffee roasting is a science. If you don’t take exact steps and precisely measure along the way, it just won’t work.

When I roast coffee at work, the process starts with fresh green coffee (raw, unroasted coffee is a pale greenish color). From there, I have a roast profile I follow, depending on the type of coffee I’m trying to produce. Altering the time and temperature will dramatically change the color, flavor, acidity and body of the finished product.

As the roasting process begins, the coffee beans crack—they become lighter in weight, darker in color, increase in size, and open up slightly (kind of like popcorn). The goal of the roasting process is to carefully apply heat to the beans so they undergo chemical changes, producing the desired flavors and aromas we’re after. A light roast will take about 8-10 minutes—medium and darker roasts take longer.

When I’m roasting coffee, I have to wait for the beans to reach certain temperatures at certain times. But while I’m waiting, I can’t get distracted. I can’t get on Instagram and scroll through my feed, and I can’t have long conversations with my coworkers or customers. I have to stay focused so I don’t ruin the coffee.

There’s a lesson in there for life too. If it’s important, it will require focus. That goes for everything from my marriage, to growing friendships, to maintaining my health, to paying my bills on time and saving for the future.

Focus has always been required. In the Bible, as the Israelites were coming into the Promised Land, their leader Joshua took a moment to rally them together, encouraging them to be faithful and reminding them that God was on their side.

“Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.” - Joshua 1:7

In a world filled to the brim (that’s a coffee joke) with distractions, maintaining focus is incredibly difficult. There are a million and one diversions available to us every day, at the blink of an eye. It’s hard to keep focus. But every time I pour myself a fresh cup of coffee, remembering the process it took to go from raw beans to finished cup, I’m reminded just how powerful focus can be.

If it’s important, focus will be required. Don’t give up. Keep going.

“Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap (a harvest), if we do not give up.” - Galatians 6:9

Hospitality Still Matters

For many people, a coffee shop is their “third space”—a gathering place where they can slow down and connect with others in ways they can’t at home, work, or on social media. Coffee actually brings people together.

Maybe it’s spending half my life in coffee shops, but I genuinely love hospitality. Making strangers feel welcome in our shop, wowing kids with latte art, or seeing a face light up when someone tries an experimental coffee (like our co-fermented peach coffee that tastes just like peach rings) makes my day. I think it makes Jesus smile too.

Hospitality is all over the Bible—giving AND receiving it. During Jesus’ ministry, he depended on the hospitality of others. He also taught that people should be welcoming and seek to authentically connect with each other. We see hospitality on both sides of Jesus’s life too. In the Old Testament, God directed his people to practice hospitality, caring for strangers and foreigners. After Jesus, the early church put hospitality into overdrive, banding together and supporting each other in ways that are still countercultural today.

The way I treat others matters. In an age of rampant loneliness, a smile, a simple “welcome,” and a warm cup of coffee have the power to change the trajectory of someone’s day. I’ve seen it time and time again.

When someone new walks into our coffee shop, I remember the words from the Bible’s book of Hebrews.

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” - Hebrews 13:2

Angels or neighbors—everyone deserves hospitality.

More Than Just Coffee

Coffee… is more than just coffee.

The next time you have a warm cup in your hands—whether at a specialty coffee shop or home- brewed while sitting on your couch—let it prompt you to pray.

That cup of coffee isn’t ordinary. And neither are you. Thank God for the blessings He’s given you, small and big.

Remember the farmers who grew the coffee, and the 15 hands who carried it for you. Pray for people facing difficult situations, whether they live down the street from you, or in a far away country.

Ask God to give you focus for the things that matter, and wisdom to make movement on them.

Look for opportunities to practice hospitality—to love others well, especially those who don’t expect it or can’t return it.

Do that, and like me, I believe you just might find God hiding at the bottom of your coffee mug too.

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Disclaimer: This article is 100% human-generated.

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