Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents my opinions about racialized versions of "I Like Coffee I Like Tea" children's recreational rhymes. These children's recreational rhymes are also known as "I Love Coffee I Love Teat" or "Down Down Baby".
The content of this post is presented for historical, sociological, cultural, and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/03/racialized-examples-of-i-like-coffee-i.html for Part I of this pancocojams series That pancocojams compilation presents all of the examples of "I Like Coffee, I Like Tea" ("I Love Coffee I Love Tea") rhymes that I have come across with demographic information (geographic location and year or decade first remembered) which include the words "I like a Colored boy" (or "Color boy" and he likes me" and continues with the lines "So step back White boy you don't shine/I'mma get a Black boy to beat your behind" (or similar wording.)
That post also includes an overview of these confrontational racialized rhymes, and some other information about these recreational rhymes.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/03/racialized-examples-of-i-like-coffee-i_19.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post presents a representative sample of the versions of "I Like Coffee, I Like Tea" that I have come across mostly online which include the words "I like a Black boy and he likes me". One example of these rhymes is presented under the date that I directly collected it. The other examples are presented in chronological order based on their online publishing dates. My editorial notes and/or contributors are included with some of these examples.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/03/racialized-examples-of-i-like-coffee-i_49.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post presents some examples of "I Like Coffee, I Like Tea" ("I Love Coffee I Love Tea") rhymes that I have come across with the racial referent "White" or other racial/ethnic referents besides "Black" or "Colored" ("Color"). These examples are presented in chronological order and are given with or without demographic information such as the contributor's geographic location and the year/decade the contributor's is first chanted or heard this rhyme.
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AN EXAMPLE OF A CONFRONTATIONAL RACIALIZED VERSION OF "I LIKE COFFEE I LIKE TEA" CHILDREN'S RECREATIONAL RHYME
Zing, Zing, Zing,
and ah 1-2-3.
I like coffee, I like tea.
I like a black boy and he likes me.
So step back, white boy, you don't shine.
I'll get the black boy to beat your behind.
Last night and the night before.
I met my boyfriend at the candy store.
He bought me ice cream he bought me cake.
He brought me home with a belly ache.
Mama, mama, I feel sick
Call the doctor, quick, quick, quick
Doctor, doctor, will I die?
Close your eyes and count to five
1-2-3-4-5
I'm Alive!
See that house up on the hill.
That's where me and my baby live.
Eat a piece of meat
Eat a piece of bread.
Come on baby. let's go to bed
-Kayla. (African American girl, age 5; recited for Alafia Children's Ensemble, Fort Pitt Elementary School chapter, (Pittsburgh, PA), 2000; collected by Azizi Powell, 2000
-snip-
Click https://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/10/hand-clap-jump-rope-rhymes-examples-i-j.html for my other blog post to read my comments about this rhyme.
-snip-
As to the word "shine" in the lines" Step back...you don't shine", I'm reminded of Rihanna's 2012 hit pop/R&B record "Diamonds" and it's lyrics "Shine bright like a diamond". Those lyrics refer to a person's inner radiance and worth. Therefore, in the context of these racialized rhymes, the words "You don't shine" means that girl doesn't think that boy has any value or worth. He's dirt under her feet instead of a diamond in the sky. .
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WHY I THINK THESE 'i LIKE COFFEE I LIKE TEA" RACIALIZED RHYMES WERE ORIGINALLY CREATED
Here's a comment that I wrote in April 2007 early on in that Mudcat thread (quoted with minor changes)
| "As to my opinions about these rhymes, it seems to me that with regards to children's rhymes, children are much more interested in the rhythm of the words than the meaning of the words themselves. It certainly appears as though children care whether 'the right words' are recited-"right" here meaning the words to that particular rhyme that they learned and which are recited in their neighborhood. If a child recites the rhyme a different way, others will say that she or he "messed" up. So it certainly appears as though children are conscious of the words they are are reciting. However, I don't think this means that children are concerned about what the words "mean'. Instead, I believe that children think about these rhymes as a play acting i.e. in the theatrical sense of the word (a story with characters and plots and actions.) The rhyme's story is actually quite common-a boy approaches a girl and asks her for a date. The boy is rebuffed by the girl who says she already has a boyfriend. The story could have ended there. But this rhyme adds the element of the boy being identified as White, and there is [at least in my mind] the assumption that the girl is Black {or non-White]. Furthermore, the girl takes exception to the boy asking her for a date. She tells him that she already has a boyfriend who {it can be assumed} is of the same race as the girl. Furthermore, the girl threatens to get her boyfriend {and/or other boys of her race} to beat up the White boy. How much of this do children 'get' by osmosis, or by repetition, or otherwise? Are we not seeing a rise in interracial schooling in the United States? Isn't interracial dating and interracial marriage on the increase in the USA? These rhymes are certainly anti-interracial dating. Also, these rhymes appear to give a stamp of approval to fighting. Perhaps the changes in these rhymes came about when schools were just being racially/ethnically integrated. As such, the aggression and reference to race in these rhymes reflect the difficulties associated with those particular times. Hopefully, times have changed and the interracial relations between students of different races have improved. Still, I'm very concerned about the normalization of in-group/out group perceptions and interactions where the only acceptable interaction between people of other races is fighting. If our cultures do not address these perceptions among children that people who aren't part of the same race/ethnicity that you are are different than you and are therefore unacceptable, how will we ever have a world where differences don't make any difference? How will there ever come a time when race and ethnicity are descriptors that have no positive or negative valuation?" **** |
DEFINITIONS THAT PERTAIN TO THIS SUBJECT
-Confrontational - words and/or actions that promote or result in open verbal and/or physical conflict
-Racialized recreational rhymes - recreational rhymes that include one or more racial referents or ethnic referents, but which originally had no such referents
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-Socialization - a sociological term for "the process whereby the young of society learn the values, ideas and practices and roles of that society."
https://www.simplypsychology.org/socialization.html
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MY CONCLUSIONS ABOUT WHAT THESE RHYMES TEACH CHILDREN
-Racialized versions of "I Like Coffee I Like Tea" rhymes and other racialized rhymes unconsciously teach and reinforce societal norms, attitudes, and expectations about race and gender.
In particular, these rhymes promote in-group preference and in-group solidarity as core values in contrast to equally valuing all people i.e. considering all people regardless of their race or ethnicity as one and the same.
-These racialized rhymes teach children not to engage in interracial/ inter-ethnic romantic relationships.
-These rhymes teach children to value heterosexual romantic relationships i.e. to have a boyfriend if they are female, or to have a girlfriend if they are male..
-These rhymes teach children that it is normal and appropriate to call on males from the racial/ethnic group that you are part of to engage in physical violence on your behalf if you believe that such physical violence is warranted i.e. that females need males to for their defense.
As such, in case it isn't clear, I'm not a fan of these confrontational racialized rhymes.
I hope that children won't chant them for recreational purposes. But I hope that they will be documented and studied for historical, sociological, and cultural purposes as examples of the toxicity of the United States' racial history and culture.
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ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THESE RHYMES AND MY FINAL THOUGHTS (IN THIS POST- ABOUT THESE RHYMES
[This example is also included in Part III of "I like a White boy" examples of these rhymes: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/03/racialized-examples-of-i-like-coffee-i_49.html
"I recall this, and it is very disturbing to me that I was taught as a little girl of perhaps 4-5 years old, by a neighbor I can only assume, around 1980-1981 (born 1976, raised in Southern NJ, in an very integrated town over the bridge from Philadelphia), and it went as follows:
Down, down baby,
Down by the Rollercoaster.
Sweet, sweet baby,
I'll never let you go.
Shimmy, shimmy cocoa-pop,
Shimmy, shimmy wow.
Shimmy, shimmy cocoa-pop,
Shimmy, shimmy wow.
I like coffee, I like tea.
I like white boy, he likes me.
So jump back black boy,
you don't shine.
I bet you five dollars
he can beat your behind.
You can roll your eyes
and you can stomp your feet
but this white boy you sure can't beat."
-Anonymous, Feb. 5, 2021, https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/racialized-versions-of-i-like-coffee-i.html
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Here's the comment that I wrote in response to Anonymous' example:
Anonymous, thanks for sharing that version of "I Like Coffee" and thanks for including demograpics (such as age, place, and gender, and-I assume-your race.)
I've only collected a few examples of these racialized versions of "I Like Coffee" that say "I like a White boy and he likes me". Perhaps those versions were chanted as frequently as the "I like a Black boy and he likes" which I think were the earliest examples. However, they haven't made their way online as much as the examples from Black (African American) people.
I wanted to also mention that I believe that the part of your example that begins "You can roll your eyes" is also quite common among African Americans- with the ending "but this Black girl (or Black boy) you sure can't beat."
I remember it from my childhood or pre-teen years in the 1950s (Atlantic City, New Jersey).
Thanks again, Anonymous!
-snip-
In retrospect, I now think that the "I like a colored boy" version may have been the earliest versions of these confrontational racialized rhymes. However, we may never know which came first. And I don't think that is as important as learning what we can about race and interracial/and inter-ethnic relationships and how and why these rhymes got it so wrong in the past, in the present, and in the future.
This statement does not deny the existence of racism. Indeed, these rhymes are a result of racism and one of their core purposes is to strengthen racism and help to ensure the continuation of racism.
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