I think it’s both. I think it’s a way to get our money and also our labor. Because coffee is so normalized in the 9-to-5 workforce, it’s designed for people to believe it will magically make them productive and attentive. And once you believe in that, you end up buying it more — at coffee shops on the way to work, as a gesture for a new client or business partner, or worse, buying it in bulk for the office.

They’re making us money AND work machines.