a little history:
i started drinking coffee when i was 16 and at summer camp for the entire season. long days and short nights for weeks on end will make you do crazy things. like drink coffee. even when it's yucky. i didn't continue throughout the school year, but back at camp for the following summers, it became my routine.
bible school would seem like a good time to start drinking coffee, but my land lady ruled the kitchen and made a very unpleasant combination of ground beans and water. so with the exception of a couple of all-nighters i pretended to pull, i didn't drink it.
it wasn't until after i was married and began working at a new job that started at 6:30am that i really started drinking coffee. this place had the most wonderful cafeteria with delicious, fresh coffee. all i had to do was swipe my little card and the cost would be deducted from my paycheck. yes, sometimes it seemed like my pay went directly back to the company. will work for coffee....
by the time i got pregnant, i was "committed" enough to my habit that going without left me with piercing headaches. (booo, coffee!) i continued to drink a small cup of half-caf each morning and outside of the fact that someone once speculated that my daughter was "so crazy" because i drank coffee in my pregnancy, my doctor said it was fine. oh, and actually, she was a toddler. that's all. not some crazed caffeine addict. nevertheless....
strangely, the next 2 pregnancies, i couldn't touch the stuff. in fact, i would make it every day and pour myself a cup, but every time i walked past it, i would shudder. ugh, don't want that! (took me a long time to stop making it every morning....let's call it pregnancy brain.)
the times when my kiddos where the youngest is the time i drank the most. for the caffeine, sure, but also just to have that moment - just that quiet few seconds: sip, ahhhh.... ok where are they now??
love.
but last year when this strange new thing started to become a strange common thing - this heart racing, shallow breathing, panic feeling thing - i thought about my
a friend (and mentor) suggested decaf. fearful of headaches that leave me debilitated (i really try not to make drastic changes in my life/diet that will cause my family to pay the price), i started mixing my own beans. i found the most delightful decaf that doesn't taste different at all (to me) and now mix 2 parts decaf with one part regular.
the best result for me is that because i did it gradually, i no longer wake up (most days) feeling like i need coffee. it's a pleasant part of my morning routine, that is all. i'm thankful because i no longer feel mastered by it.
oooh, and i also started making my own vanilla coffee syrup, which i like better than the expen$ive types i used to buy. thankyouverymuch, paula deen via pinterest!
how 'bout you? do you love or hate coffee?
Oh Coffee how I love thee, let me count the ways. Ok so I love coffee, not a 3 pot a day kinda love (anymore) but a one to two cup of GOOD coffee kinda love. Much to my delight and perhaps my hubby's chagrin my neighbour is an expert in the area of all things coffee. He owns a coffee company and has introduced me to the World Cup of coffee that his company participates in. MMMMMMMMmmmmmm coffee beans freshly gound from around the world from little farms. My favorite is my keurig for my day to day needs (it also helps to brew one cup at a time to ensure I don't drink several pots)!!
ReplyDeleteIt really is more of the experience for me though. It's the smell, the flavour, the coziness of hugging a mug while curled up in a comfy chair visiting with a good girl friend. It makes the workday less mundane to have my steamy mug sitting next to me at my desk! It is those ah moments when the house is quiet and the kids are in the snow building a fort and I can watch them while enjoying a peaceful moment that doesn't usually last any longer that that... a moment.
So I guess my short answer is oh yes I do like me my coffee!!!
Tracy ;)
Yesterday I went to market place to buy a coffee maker for myself but I didn't have much money to buy the one I liked the most. I never used coffee maker but after reviewing it on the Internet I decided to purchase it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the article though, I enjoyed reading it.
Regards,
Finn Felton
Kopi Luwak
Oh Becky, I understand your love/hate relationship with coffee all too well. I am cutting down my caffeine intake, slowly weaning myself off the caffeine to the decaf. The heart racing and palpitations were enough to finally make the switch. There is something so relaxing and yet invigorating about a hot cup of coffee with the Lord's words right beside me in the morning.
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