Pop Literacy producer Daniel Ford's short story collection Black Coffee inspired us to talk about our favorite legal stimulant and its role in popular culture. We talk Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, You've Got Mail, and many other pop icons driven by caffeine, and we recommend some of our favorite pop culture pick-me-ups.

Discussions include:

• Black Coffee playlist
• Aug. 24 Black Coffee book event hosted by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong at Kew and Willow Books in Queens, N.Y.
• Tom Hanks
• John Wesley Harding's "There's a Starbucks Where the Starbucks Used to Be"