There are two approaches, of course.
First, one may presume that coffee is a kind of magic. It brings an inevitability that is staggering, taken in gestalt. Obser-‘uv.
Coffee is kind of magic. Coffee is a tree that grows in the clement, sodden parts of the globe. Coffee is the berry upon that tree, produced red and laughing at high elevations. When the fruit is removed, the tree is just a tree. Coffee is the stone from that little red fruit, distilled and decanted of much of its mortal clay. When the outer jacket is shed, it may be repackaged as “coffee fruit,” riding the coattails of greatness. That dry stone, roasted and ground to a course or fine powder, is called coffee. Soaked in water or blasted with steam, the brown liquid that trickles into the cup is still called coffee. The part that isn’t the coffee becomes only the coffee grounds, the decayed leavings.
This suggests that the little bit, perhaps 4-10 per cent of the finished cup, has been coffee all along, and the vehicles, also called coffee all along the chain until the coffee is diluted and perfected, exist only to carry this whiff of powder.
So, perhaps coffee is the name of a pinch of magic powder, and the name of the various things that bear the coffee from the rocks of the Earth’s warm belt to the table.
But, Second, perhaps this is a function of the magic of the language.
A crop is the top of a plant. Or, it was. Shortly, a crop was the top of a useful plant, and then all of pretty much any useful plant that you might sew deliberately. Soon, it also meant cutting off the useful (top) parts of a plant, and then those useful parts that had been cut off. So, you’d sew a crop of crops, then crop the crops and go sell your crop. Because in English, we squeeze every word ‘til the pips squeak.
And this is the magic of English, really. Certainly, to speak English well, one must be expansive of vocabulary. However, to talk English good, one need only grasp a few handsful of concept.
You are free to believe that coffee is a whiff of magic powder with a series of more and less beautiful vehicles. You are free to believe that the word “coffee” simply refers to anything related to the coffeeing process. You may believe a third thing that is undreamt of in my philosophy, and if you do, kindly keep it to yourself.