I want to introduce an even worse notion: that people might choose the next leader of the Commonwealth based on who they’d rather have a cup of coffee with.

One of the worst cliches of politics is the notion that the person you would rather have a beer with is the person you will vote for when you enter the ballot box.

My Morning Cup features the coffee rituals that most of us have. People from all walks of life — from US senators to ballplayers, subway drivers to college professors — have submitted entries that will run each day.

The Massachusetts gubernatorial candidates have all spent months on the campaign trail, visiting diners and sitting down with voters to share a cup of coffee. They’ve used coffee as a stimulant to get going in the morning, to stay up into the wee hours, or to push through for a little more debate prep.

So I decided to ask them about their habits.


Do they have a firm stance on decaf? (Charlie Baker does; Martha Coakley doesn’t). Do they do anything else while they’re sipping a cup of joe? (Coakley does; Baker doesn’t). They differ on when they have their last cup of the day, and when in their lives they started drinking coffee.

Still, there is one thing that unites the two front-runners: While on the campaign trail, they both get their caffeine fix at Dunkin’.

Jeff McCormick is short and to the point. Scott Lively, living up to his last name, appears to be the most caffeinated.

Ask Evan Falchuk about where he gets his coffee, and get a discourse on the state’s housing and health care costs. Ask him how many cups of coffee he drinks and he’ll respond about needing to stay hydrated so he can take on the political establishment.


Maybe this will help you make your decision over who to vote for next Tuesday. But hopefully it’ll just be a break, one small way to get a window into the routine that political candidates share with most of us.

Here, the five Massachusetts gubernatorial candidates share their coffee rituals. Scroll down to read the interviews in alphabetical order, or click below to jump.

Charlie Baker, 57

Swampscott

Republican candidate for governor

We reached Baker by e-mail through his campaign.

Describe your coffee routine. Where do you frequent, what do you like?

I drink a cup of drip coffee in the morning if we have time. [Wife] Lauren waits for me to make it because I am pretty good at it. On the weekends I always have coffee with Lauren at the house. I usually grab one or two cups from Dunks or Twin Donuts in Allston — right by our campaign HQ [headquarters].

If make, what coffee do you use and how do you make it?

Lauren buys Starbucks for the home supply. The machine is a Mr. Coffee but the pot is a Black & Decker (Lauren broke the last pot). We believe it is around 15 years old now.

If buy, where? What time? Do baristas know you?

Schedule permitting, first cup at home around 5:30 or 6 a.m. If I don’t have time to brew coffee at the house, the first cup usually comes from the Dunks on 1A in Revere or from Twin Donuts in Allston by the campaign HQ. The folks at Twin Donuts by HQ know me well.


What’s your order?

Dunks/Twin Donuts order: medium hot, cream, two Splenda.

Alone or with company?

If I have time for the first cup at home, it is always with Lauren. The rest are with campaign staff throughout the day.

Where do you drink it? Seated or on the go?

Coffee in the car is a bad combo for me. I usually wait to get out of the car to drink it. If we have time on the road, I will sit down in Dunks.

Any simultaneous noncaffeinated stimulation? (newspaper, radio, cigarettes, etc.)

No.

How many more cups the rest of the day?

Usually two, tops three per day.

What time will you drink your last cup?

3 p.m.

What’s your stance on decaf?

Never. Wasted effort.

When and why did you start drinking coffee?

I didn’t start drinking coffee until after college when I started working.

Describe the most memorable cup of coffee you’ve ever had.

My son Charlie used to wake us up really early when we were still living in an apartment in Allston. When it was my turn for morning duty, I would take him out to a playground nearby, usually pre-dawn, so I wouldn’t wake Lauren up. I looked forward to that cup of coffee when I got back to the apartment because it usually meant he had quieted down by then. I can’t quite remember the brand, but it was probably Folgers from a standard drip.


Martha Coakley, 61

Medford

Democratic candidate for governor

We reached Coakley by e-mail through her campaign.

Gretchen Ertl for The Boston Globe

Describe your coffee routine. Where do you frequent, what do you like?

I usually drink two medium half regular, half decaf black coffees from Dunkin’ Donuts a day.

Make or buy?

We have a Keurig at home, but since I have been spending so many hours on the campaign trail, I have been frequenting Dunkin’ Donuts!

If buy, where? What time? Do baristas know you?

I usually have one in the late morning, one in the afternoon. The baristas at the Dunkin’ Donuts near my campaign office know me pretty well right now.

What’s your order?

Black, hot, half regular, half decaf.

Any simultaneous noncaffeinated stimulation? (newspaper, radio, cigarettes, etc.)

I am always multitasking, reading over my briefing materials, meeting with my staff, on the way to an event or meeting.

What time will you drink your last cup?

I won’t have any coffee after dinner.

When and why did you start drinking coffee?

I first started drinking coffee when I was 16 and had to wake up early to go to the Albany airport for a flight.

Describe the most memorable cup of coffee you’ve ever had.

My husband and I traveled to Italy several years ago and after a wonderful meal at the Square in Cortona, we sat outside and had a cup of espresso.

P.S. — my favorite ice cream is coffee ice cream!


Evan Falchuk, 44

Newton

Founder of United Independent Party and candidate for governor

We reached Falchuk by e-mail through his campaign.

Describe your coffee routine. Where do you frequent, what do you like?

I have a cup of coffee at home in the morning as I’m getting ready to go out and talk to voters who want to change politics in Massachusetts away from vague platitudes and toward serious, meaningful reform.

Make or buy?

The cost of living in Massachusetts has become increasingly unaffordable and it’s driven by health care costs and housing costs. You can save some money making your own coffee but it will never be enough to cover the massive increases in the cost of both.

If make, what coffee do you use and how do you make it?

When I make coffee at Falchuk for Governor headquarters in Boston we have a coffee machine we got from WB Mason. Whichever of the campaign’s 14 full-time staff, or one of the two dozen interns or co-ops, who are in the office first will start the first pot, as everyone will be busy making calls and organizing and mobilizing voters around the need to participate in our democracy.

If buy, where? What time? Do baristas know you?

As I’m on the road across the Commonwealth every day talking about my plan to end profiteering in the hospital market, I grab coffee in many, many different places. Sometimes I get a chance to talk to people in a coffee shop about our Thriving Communities Action Plan, which details how to kickstart the housing market. Over a cup of coffee it’s easy for a voter to realize that no other candidate even has a plan on this critical issue. Baristas sometimes recognize me and I know that many of them are carrying a great deal of student debt and would benefit from loan forgiveness programs like the ones I’ve proposed, and those who are students would be helped by my plan to make two years of community college free, and to increase funding for direct aid to students.

What’s your order?

Coffee.

How do you take it? (milk, sugar)

Milk.

Iced or hot?

Hot.

Alone or with company?

In a time when voter turn-out is at all-time lows — only 16 percent voted in the primary — I know there are a lot of poll workers who end up drinking their coffee pretty much alone. And when voters get the ballot this November they will see a majority of candidates in our Legislature running all alone — unopposed. Drinking coffee with others is an important way to share this information, and talk about the urgent need for political change.​

Where do you drink it? Seated or on the go?

It can be hard to drink coffee while walking, but not as hard as affording to pay for the skyrocketing cost of health insurance and housing in Massachusetts. Sure, it’s easier to sit and drink coffee, but paying those bills doesn’t get any easier, especially at a time when our government has failed to offer any housing production policy at all.​

Any simultaneous noncaffeinated stimulation? (newspaper, radio, cigarettes, etc.)

I was having some coffee recently with a woman who told me she was worried she couldn’t afford rent, even though she was working two jobs. She’s heard politicians say they care about this and want to do something about it, but she never sees them, except around election time. Hearing stories like this wake me up more than any cup of coffee ever could.

How many more cups the rest of the day?

It’s important to stay hydrated when working to challenge a complacent and entitled political establishment, and I tend to think coffee isn’t the best way to do that. If it’s been a late night with voters, I may have a couple extra cups, but not every day.​

What time will you drink your last cup?

It totally depends on the day, but on a day like today [Monday], when I’m going to court to fight the effort by NECN, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, and the Worcester Chamber of Commerce to breach a contract they made with me for the Oct. 27 gubernatorial debate in Worcester, I’ll have had my last cup by 10 a.m.​

RELATED: Judge denies injunction request by Evan Falchuk on debate

What’s your stance on decaf?

People should have the right to choose how to best live their own lives, and how to spend their own money, and that includes the question of what kind of coffee they drink.

When and why did you start drinking coffee?

My father came to this country from Venezuela, which has terrific coffee, which people start drinking at a young age. I started drinking it on one of my many visits there as a young person.​

Describe the most memorable cup of coffee you’ve ever had.

My wife, Felicia, and I were in Rome on our honeymoon, and we had a cup of coffee outside the Pantheon, sitting across from a building built 2,000 years ago that still stands. It was an amazing experience that made me feel connected to the sweep of history and to my wife. That cup of coffee in Italy I remember as being the best I’d ever tasted.

Dr. Scott Lively, 56

Shelburne Falls

Independent candidate for governor

We reached Lively by e-mail.

Zack Wittman for The Boston Globe

Describe your coffee routine. Where do you frequent, what do you like?

I make my own coffee by the cup with a filter cone that sits atop my mug. I use fresh ground beans that I grind myself. I grind about a half pound at a time, which lasts me about a week to 10 days.

If make, what coffee do you use and how do you make it?

My favorite coffee is Cascade Pride brand Sumatran Swiss water decaf, which I buy in hermetically sealed five-pound bags at Winco Foods in California. I buy about 20 pounds at a time, two or three times per year when I’m there.

How do you take it? (milk, sugar)

I take my coffee with half-and-half or Coffee Mate, though I slightly prefer the Coffee Mate. I like it the color of caramel.

How many more cups the rest of the day?

I drink about five mugs a day and will often nurse the same mug over the course of several hours, heating it up occasionally in the microwave.

What time will you drink your last cup?

I only drink caffeinated coffee in the mornings before 11 because any caffeine later than that will make me wake up in the wee hours of the night and not be able to get back to sleep.

I usually get my caffeinated coffee at Holy Grounds Coffee House, the inner-city church I founded in Springfield. It is a gourmet coffee donated by a wholesale supplier. We’re stocked ahead for about six months with that coffee.

Describe the most memorable cup of coffee you’ve ever had.

My most memorable cup was my first. My family owned a maple sugar lot and an old-fashioned sugar house in Heath, Mass., by the Vermont border. I was about 11 years old. Me and my dad and a couple of my sisters were trudging through the snow to retrieve the sap from buckets hanging on spigots and pouring it into the galvanized steel pipeline that ran down the hill to the sugar house. It was freezing cold and my dad had a thermos with a plastic screw-on cup. He gave me about half a cup of black coffee in that cup to warm me up. I didn’t really like the bitter taste of it much, but I drank it anyway.

I love solo backpacking and hike about 100 miles a year on the Appalachian Trail. One of my favorite things in life is a good strong cup first thing in the morning while on the trail, sipping my coffee while watching the sunrise from a high mountain ledge. Equally satisfying is the last cup of decaf at night as I watch the final embers of my campfire glow orange in the darkness.

Jeff McCormick, 52

Boston

Managing partner, Saturn Partners, and independent candidate for governor

We reached McCormick by e-mail through his campaign.

Describe your coffee routine. Where do you frequent, what do you like?

Dunkin’ Donuts.

Make or buy?

Buy.

If buy, where? What time? Do baristas know you?

Dunkin’ Donuts in the morning on my way to the office.

What’s your order?

Half decaf, half regular.

How do you take it? (milk, sugar)

Black.

Iced or hot?

Hot.

Alone or with company?

Both.

Where do you drink it? Seated or on the go?

Both, but mostly on the go.

Any simultaneous noncaffeinated stimulation? (newspaper, radio, cigarettes, etc.)

While making calls, during meetings, and reading.

How many more cups the rest of the day?

One.

What time will you drink your last cup?

Noon.

What’s your stance on decaf?

Half regular and half decaf is my mainstay.

When and why did you start drinking coffee?

As an entrepreneur many years ago to hit the ground running very early in the morning.

Describe the most memorable cup of coffee you’ve ever had.

Coffee in Milan with my wife on our honeymoon. We finally were able to decompress and just relax and enjoy each other after our wedding.

Related:

Special section: Campaign 2014

To submit your own My Morning Cup entry, e-mail Matt Viser at matt.viser@globe.com.