10 Hilarious Garfield Strips About Drinking Coffee (That the Caffeine Obsessed Will Totally Vibe With) (2024)

Garfield's love of coffee is legendary; while the orange tabby slurping down a mug of Joe – or two, or twelve, or twenty – started as a bit of a taboo, it soon became one of the most recognizable attributes of the beloved comic character. Over the years, Jim Davis' long-running comic was routinely an ode to coffee drinkers, becoming perhaps the defining pop culture depiction of caffeine overindulgence.

At times, Jon Arbuckle expressed concern about Garfield's caffeine consumption, but just as he did with most things, he eventually became resigned to it. Truthfully, though, sharing their morning coffee amounted to Jon and Garfield's greatest common interest, giving them an opportunity to bond, one where the joke was not always on Arbuckle.

Readers will find that Garfield's coffee humor strikes a chord, skillfully lampooning hardcore coffee drinkers and their excesses – while also making it clear that Jim Davis himself must have been a caffeine fiend.

10 Garfield's First Coffee Strip Established Caffeine Drinking As A Core Trait Early In The Strip's Run

First Published: June 29, 1978

On June 19, 1978, Garfield entered syndication in national newspapers, and it was within the first few weeks of the strip that Jim Davis introduced Garfield's love of coffee. "You can't drink coffee, Garfield, it will stunt your, uh..." Jon Arbuckle says, swiping the tabby's mug from his paw – before pausing for a moment, then handing it back and asking "one lump or two?"

Especially early on in the comic's run, Garfield's weight was a central source of humor, and so it is fitting that his love of coffee spun out of that. While this could have been a one-off joke, Davis recognized the potential for an overly-caffeinated cat as an ongoing source of comedy. As a result, this strip began one of Garfield's longest-running gags, and led to some of its most laugh-out-loud moments.

9 Early Garfield Comics Were Uneasy About A Cat Drinking Coffee – And Made That Their Punchline

First Published: December 10, 1979

Part of Garfield's early development was the way Jim Davis navigated the overlapping – and not always necessarily consistent – cat-like and human-like qualities of the title character. Coffee is a perfect example of this; early in the strip's run, Jon Arbuckle possessed an awareness that his pet shouldn't be drinking coffee, especially not so much, as is the case in this comic, which has him resignedly saying, "it's time we talked about this coffee dependency of yours, Garfield."

In the first panel, Garfield walks into frame quivering, desperately in need of his morning cup, which he slurps down desperately in the second panel, leading to Jon's remark. As Garfield evolved, however, it was more and more taken for granted that the character was a coffee-drinker – leading the focus of the strip's caffeine humor to shift to the effects of increasingly over-the-top over-consumption.

8 Garfield Occasionally Tested The Limits Of Good Taste – Especially When It Came To Coffee

First Published: February 3, 1980

This Garfield panel depicts the character reacting to a particularly cold morning by testing the limits of warming up with a good cup of coffee; he splashes the hot liquid in his own face, pours it down his throat, gargles with it, and finally climbs into the mug like it is a hot tub.

"You really enjoy your coffee, don't you, Garfield?" Jon Arbuckle asks, narrowing his eyes at the feline – presumably thankful it wasn't his coffee the cat plopped in. Part of the hilarity of Garfield's human-like behavior is on display here – as his true nature as a cat equated to Garfield often being altogether uncouth and uncivilized in his actions, to consistently great comedic effect.

7 As A Coffee Drinker, Garfield Was More About Quantity Than Quality

First Published: November 30, 1987

In essence, there are two kinds of coffee lovers: those who love one cup of good coffee, and those who love many cups of bad coffee. Garfield is notoriously in the latter camp, as displayed here in this strip, where the cat agrees to "cut down" on his caffeine, agreeing to just have "half a cup" – while holding up a ludicrously oversized mug, one that is bigger than even he is, and nearly as big as Jon.

Once again, Jon Arbuckle uneasy about Garfield drinking coffee here – but in a reversal from earlier cartoons, that is the set-up, rather than the punchline of the joke. Additionally, Garfield voices a common coffee-drinker's refrain here, thinking that "there's no such thing as too much coffee" in response to Jon Arbuckle's concerns.

6 Jim Davis' Garfield Comics About Caffeine Were An Entire Vibe

First Published: December 2, 1987

Heavy caffeine users are familiar with the jitters – as well as that level beyond the jitters, where it feels as though they are vibrating at such a frequency that they are going to phase into an entirely different plane of existence. Few works of art or fiction capture that feeling as accurately as this Garfield comic, in which Garfield is depicted as quaking uncontrollably after "too much coffee."

There have been many coffee-crazed characters in popular culture, but the true sensation of having had too much coffee is hard to convey in live-action, or in prose – but with the comic strip medium, Jim Davis found the perfect way to encapsulate this experience, elevating Garfield's coffee comics to a level of artistic achievement few creators can truly claim.

5 Garfield's Constant Desire For One More Cup Made Him Highly Relatable To Coffee Drinkers

First Published: April 17, 1990

In this Garfield strip, a still-sleepy, pajama-clad Jon Arbuckle says "good morning, Garfield," but rather than a grumble, he receives his greeting shouted back at him, with a smile and a wave, making it clear that Garfield has gotten a head start on his coffee drinking for the day. "You gotta cut down," Jon says, without even needing to know exactly how much his cat has consumed – something the tabby immediately confirms, unprompted, a moment later, saying "yes, thanks! I will have an 11th cup of coffee!"

Coffee aficionados will appreciate this comic for the way it playfully lampoons the constant craving for just another cup, or even another sip, no matter the time of day, or how much they have already had up to that point.

4 Garfield Calls Coffee "The Next Best Thing" To Literally Being Young Forever

First Published: November 25, 1991

"You've heard of the 'fountain of youth'," a distraught, pre-first-sip Garfield thinks in the first panel of this strip – and then after taking that first sip in panel two, the final frame features him beaming, holding his cup aloft, and excitedly declaring "meet the next best thing!"

In other words, in Garfield's estimation, while the possibility of actually restoring one's youth, and potential immortality, might be fanciful hopes, caffeine offers a very real alternative. Though some people feel they are reborn anew each morning, heavy coffee drinkers are the opposite: they wake up feeling dead, and need to be restored to life. Fans who know the feeling of stumbling to the coffee maker straight out of bed every morning will recognize how perfectly Jim Davis captures that first-sip transformation here, making this an all-time great Garfield coffee cartoon.

3 "Bean Me!": Over Time, Garfield's Coffee Drinking Became Over-The-Top

First Published: March 26, 1993

Jon Arbuckle seldom had moments of quiet respite, and the first panel of this Garfield strip shows him briefly enjoying one, idly sipping a cup of coffee – before he is, of course, interrupted by Garfield, who slams down his mug next to Jon and screams, "BEAN ME!" with a positively unhinged, gritted-teeth smile on his face.

"Something tells me this isn't your first cup today,' Jon says sarcastically; nearly twenty-five years after Garfield's love of coffee was first established, it had become fully enmeshed in the lore of the comic, with Jon's seeming complete lack of concern about how much Garfield has had completing its full one-eighty from his initial hesitance.

2 Garfield Embodies The Perennial Search For A Progressively Stronger Cup Of Coffee

First Published: May 11, 1998

Still in his trademark red-and-white pajamas, Jon Arbuckle has evidently rolled out of bed to start the day in this strip thinking that he could trust Garfield to make their morning coffee. After one sip – or, more accurately, a "schlurp," – his eyes bulge out of his head, leading him to ask "just how many scoops did you use?" "Scoops?" Garfield thinks, unconcerned with the strength of the coffee, as the empty can of grounds lies on its side on the counter next to him.

Readers who have dabbled in espresso, cold brew, caffeine pouches, and other methods of increasingly intense caffeine intake will be hard-pressed not to laugh at this Garfield cartoon, which confirms the infamous cat is on the same quest for an ever-stronger cup of coffee.

1 "A Little Espresso": By The New Millennium, Garfield Needed More Than Just Regular Coffee To Get His Fix

First Published: July 1, 2001

This super-sized Sunday edition of Garfield features a hilarious sequence of panels, in which the eponymous tabby downs a shot of espresso – and then has a progressively more intense reaction as the caffeine hits his system, leading him to note that "a little espresso goes a long way."

This cartoon emphasizes that even decades after Garfield debuted, Jim Davis was still able to wring a great deal of comedy out of simple, effective visual gags like this one. By this point, fans were familiar with Garfield's love of caffeine, and so it became a matter of continuing to illustrate that in a way that connected with readers. For anyone who has felt that tingling sensation in their brain after a fresh shot of espresso, this Garfield cartoon is as memorable, relatable of a strip as Davis ever produced.

Garfield

The Garfield franchise centers around the lazy, lasagna-loving orange cat named Garfield, who spends his days avoiding work, eating, and making sarcastic comments about life. Created by Jim Davis, Garfield's humorous observations on human (and feline) nature have been a staple of pop culture since the comic strip's debut in 1978. The franchise has expanded into television shows, films, and a variety of merchandise, making Garfield one of the most recognizable and enduring characters in comic history.