International Coffee Day Special: Iconic coffee scenes

What made the caffeine chic?
After Hrs gives you the low-down...

What actually made drinking coffee fashionable? It was the toasty Central Perk in the epochal Friends series. Rachel, Ross, Phoebe, Monica and Chandler would regale us with their delectable shenanigans over endless cups of coffee. However, there are some movies with some very significant scenes where latte plays a huge rule and gives us an instant caffeine craving.

Audrey Hepburn sips coffee admiring jewellery at Tiffany's store in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Who can forget the opening scene of this iconic film when Audrey Hepburn playing NYC's playgirl, Holly Golightly floats in front of the Tiffany store in a Givenchy dress, carrying a coffee mug and croissant? She seems transfixed by the window display of the jewellery as she takes small bites of the croissant and sips the coffee. The scene sets the tone of the stylish film.

Anne Hathaway delivers coffee super late in Devil Wears Prada (2006)
The career-obsessed Ice queen Miranda Priestly played by Meryl Streep yells, "Is there a reason my coffee isn't here yet? Has she died or something?" A frazzled Emily Blunt hysterically dials up the incompetent Andrea (Anne Hathaway) who's supposed to deliver no-foam skimmed latte with extra sugar and hot besides a slew of Hermes scarves along with 10 to 15 Calvin Klein skirts. Andrea walks into the office with a tray of coffee mugs and Emily disapprovingly says, "Bloody timing!"

Andrew Paxton spills coffee, The Proposal (2009)
Andrew Paxton played by the dashing Ryan Reynold brings cinnamon soy lattes for his tyrannical boss Margaret played by Sandra Bullock. Ryan calls the coffee, "Christmas in a cup". When he's buying the coffee, the coffee girl writes her no on the mug and later on Ryan spills Margaret's coffee on his way to her cabin and gives his cup to her. She cheekily confronts him, " If I want your praise, I will ask for it. Um... Who is, uh, who is Jillian? And why does she want me to call her?" Andrew answers, "Well, that was originally my cup."

Agent Kujan makes a mess, The Usual Suspects (1995)
A coffee cup splashed all over the floor can be really dramatic but it doesn't get more impactful if it's happened thrice. Phew! Agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) gets his milky java all over his office when he finally puts the pieces together at the end of The Usual Suspects, and it's one of those wow moments in the film.

Kato's coffee machine, The Green Hornet (2011)
Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) learned a great deal from his late dad's mechanic Kato (Jay Chou) in The Green Hornet. One of these surreal revelations involved a nearly Willy Wonka-sized hand-built coffee maker, which Kato used to churn out espresso. Most striking of all, however, was his ability to execute a fancy milk-pour effortlessly, right off the bat.

Tommy asks for his coffee to go, Goodfellas (1990)
Stacks (Samuel L. Jackson) doesn't see it coming when Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) shows up to put a bullet in the back of his head–partially because Tommy keeps an air of normalcy going by asking Frankie (Frank Sivero) to make a pot of coffee. In a classic Pesci moment after the hit, Tommy tells Frankie to make the coffee to go and then scolds him for not understanding that the request was a joke.

When Hamilton met Meg, Best in Show (2000)
In a tale that could have been directly inspired by Tom Hanks' You've Got Mail monologue, Hamilton (Michael Hitchcock) and Meg Swan (Parker Posey) relate how they met through their Starbucks habits. Thankfully for both of them, Hamilton mustered up the courage to cross the street from one Starbucks to another and break the ice. Meanwhile, his grande espresso habit probably makes him the most caffeinated character on this whole list.

Love by the toilet, Amélie (2001)
In an effort to unite two gauche, would-be lovers together, Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) takes the unique approach of spilling hot coffee on Georgette (Isabelle Nanty) and tricking her into barging into the restroom while Joseph (Dominique Pinon) is cleaning himself up. The momentary burning turns out to be fruitful in the end, as Amélie vents some loud steam to cover up the sounds of Georgette's moment of pleasure.

Pulp Fiction (1994)
Many non-hitman types out there should be able to relate to Winston Wolfe's (Harvey Keitel) need for coffee while he's working. The difference between the average cubicle monkey and Wolfe, however, is that he has to make a bloody corpse disappear in 40 minutes from Jimmie's (Quentin Tarantino) home. He knows what he wants, and it involves lots of cream and lots of sugar.

manish.mishra@dnaindia.net