1. Fern, the title character in Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland, played by Frances McDormand finds herself widowed and a houseless gig worker, who lives out of her van while she travels the American West. McDormand is cast alongside some in real life nomads who she finds comfort, in as she navigates the open road with coffee, making it black and dishing it from her green thermos on mornings where vistas and vast landscapes become highlights among a burgeoning community.
Winner: Best Director for a Motion Picture, Chloé Zhao
2. Deke, played by Denzel Washington in The Little Things is a Deputy Sherriff who returns to Los Angeles to collect evidence for a serial killer case and finds himself on an extended stay to redeem himself and unofficially help L.A. Sheriff Baxter ( Rumi Malek). As the crime drama traces the steps of the unknown, the suspected and the victims, there’s three ways for Deke to grab coffee as he finds himself in crucial scenes; from the coffee machines in the bullpen while interrogating suspect Sparma (Jared Leto), having coffee over breakfasts while discussing moves of the killer, and on the beat, when Deacon grabs two coffee’s to-go form a corner store, only to dramatically toss them into the street upon seeing Baxter and Sparma ride off into the night chasing buried answers, literally.
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor in a Drama, Jared Leto
3. Andra Day imagines the late Billie Holiday in Billie Holiday vs. The United States. In this role, Day empties herself and becomes the blues icon with a tour de force biographical performance. How does a woman go against a nation, yes, the United States? With cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, a voice and a song called Strange Fruit. Despite the authorities prohibitions, Day famously performed ‘Strange Fruit’ at Café Society, the first racially integrated nightclub in New York City. Historically, cafes have always been spaces for society and cultural exchange. Her decision to sing ‘Strange Fruit’ which subsequently launched a civil war against the government because it didn’t like the truth the song portrayed – black bodies being lynched in America. This biopic is far from a glamorized vacation and instead, a slice of real life.
Winner: Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
4. Jason Sudeikis is Ted Lasso in Ted Lasso, an American college coach hired by Rebecca Welton to come to England to coach AFC Richmond, a premier team. Since Welton is scorned by her unfaithful ex-husband, the ownership of the team becomes her by virtue of a divorce settlement which leads her to want to do everything to ruin AFC Richmond, which her husband loved. While the series features a lot of tea, it’s when Sudeikis accepted his Golden Globes win that the culture perked up, as he did so in a hooded tie-dye sweatshirt. Tie dye has also found a merch place in specialty coffee culture during this past year. There’s the long sleeve EntireWorld x Neighborhood collab, the rainbow tie-dyed Daydream Surf Shop crew socks from owner Rebecca Elise, South Bay’s OffSet Coffee’s collaboration tie dye tees with Standard Issue Tees named Tie Dye Ric Flair to pop-up coffee and mobile roaster Mellow Yellow’s puffy paint pumpkin spiced sweatshirt. Resist not the culture, Sudeikis hasn’t.
Winner: Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy
5. The one thing that translates as universal is human movement, especially inside of a home. Minari is a comedy-drama about a Korean-American family in pursuit of a version of the American Dream. While doing so, their witty family matriarch arrives with a foul mouth and generational charm, invading their 1980’s home in the Ozarks along with their contemporary ideals. In doing so, there are micro moments, whether looking for coffee in the kitchen or exchanging dialogue over a coffee table that shows a family trying to make a new reality despite their frailties and flaws.
Winner: Best Motion Picture Foreign Language.
6. Emma Corrin, plays Diana and then Princess Diana in Seasons Four and Five of The Crown. She tackles teenage Diana smitten with the Prince to married Diana disillusioned by the second and unofficial wife but very official love interest of Prince Charles. It’s her movements and her accessible humanness in the role that makes her portrayal far from a caricature but a great piece of inspired art. Her eyes are a sentence without words. And this image after the Golden Globes win, informs us that even coffee can come to a British party.
Winner: Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama
7. Caring about a rich, white family displaced to a small, economically depressed town upon losing their fortune, might not sound comical, but with the name Schitt’s Creek, familial cast behind the show and a great accompanying cast of characters, it is exactly that and more. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, the Rose family must come to terms not just with their penniless situation, but with themselves and their ideas, while living in a middle of nowhere town, that is the last thing they own, which is as ironic as its name. There are 80 shows of sheer deep belly laughter, slapstick comedy buoyed by redemption, tenderness and love earn its winning accolade, all while writing in copious amounts of coffee from their motel room to the town diner.
Winner: Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy Catherine O’Hara