Time out

Hands up for coffee ...

Happy Christmas everybody! Apologies for the frivolity, but now for something completely different …

Have any of you noticed how ergonomically awkward cups for flat-white coffees have become here in the Land of the Long White Cloud?

As the photo below shows, there’s no room for the rest of your hand and other fingers once you get your index finger hooked in the cup-handle. Yes, seriously! Even tiny-hands trump would be challenged (not that we’d ever want him to come to New Zealand to try them). And the bigger your fingers, the bigger the problem.

Finger amputation is one obvious solution. But I think we can agree that’s too high a price to pay for a cup of coffee.

As you an see from the high tide mark, this flat-white - purchased from the Old Post Office Bar and Grill in Clyde - was successfully negotiated. With all fingers intact too. But only because of my patented solution, shown below.

I hit on the idea a couple of years back. My original name for it was the “McKenzie Flip”. Sadly though, the name just hasn’t caught on. It obviously doesn’t have the right ring to it. A fellow coffee-drinker was impressed enough to suggest I get a model made and arrange to have it placed on my tombstone. But I’d prefer due recognition for this novel solution before then if possible. So I’m looking for a more alluring name to better cut the mustard. Candidates so far are “flat-white-flip”, “finger-flipper”, “coffee cup cure”, “safety saucer”, and “flyring saucer”. Or perhaps just “the flip”. I don’t think we’re there yet. A PR makeover is called for (moving forward !* ☹).

Can you help?

Whatever moniker we come up with, it should noted that good manners decrees that after implementing the manoeuvre one should always revert to the standard arrangement before leaving the table. The flipped configuration isn’t nearly as convenient for wait-staff when clearing the table.

Thank you for your consideration 😊.

… and apologies again for being so far off-topic.

Thanks Linda for pointing out yet another advantage of the ‘flip’. That’s the energy saved by not having to lift the cup so far. Over a lifetime of coffee drinking that must surely amount to a worthwhile saving. It makes the coffee ever-so-slightly greener!

To add a tiny bit of relevance to atmospheric science… You may notice from those pictures that the shadows are darker than you’re used to. That’s because with the pristine air where we live, a larger fraction of sunlight arrives in the direct beam rather than as diffuse light scattered by aerosols. As a result, shadows are deeper and have sharper edges.

I’m taking a break now, but will be back with more pearls of wisdom next year …

In the meantime: Enjoy your Christmas/New Year coffee breaks. May your ‘cup runneth over’.