cwoffee twalk

"Would you like a bag for that?"

We've all been asked this question and feel a slight twinge of guilt when we have to admit that yes, we do need a bag. Sorry Ms. I'm-Obsessed-With-Yoga-and-Only-Buy-Organic Whole Foods shopper, not all of us carry our "I used to be a plastic bottle" recycled bag with us at all times. Don't judge.

However in doing my part in going green, I have found something in New York that is unnecessarily using up our world's supply of paper bags. COFFEE. Er, I mean cwoffee. You buy your $.90 cwoffee from your local Pick-a-Bagel and the guy will pour the cwoffee, put the lid on, and place the lidded cwoffee cup INSIDE a brown paper bag.

Let's be honest, in today's world we have some options: we can double cup, put sleeves on, or place our lattes in carrier trays. There are plenty of cup accessories plus a warning on the actual cup just to protect us from the hot beverage we are about to enjoy. But somehow in New York the paper bag has become the necessary tool in successful cwoffee handling. Or so it seems.

On the one occasion I actually did accept the bag when purchasing my cwoffee I was terrified and clearly not fitting in the way I had hoped. I couldn't see whether the cup was tilting or about to tilt, whether the lid was dripping or about to drip. What would I do if it did? The bag would soak up the coffee and the bottom would fall out therefore spilling my entire cup in the middle of the street. I would end up with my burnt hands full of steaming hazlenut flavored papier-mâché. I ripped the bag off and threw it in the trash. Wasteful, I know and for that I am sorry.

So from then on when I get "would you like a bag for that?" my answer is "For my cwoffee? Nah, fahgetta bout it."