True love (coffee style)

I remember the day I went from like to love when it comes to coffee. This was long before I discovered the joys of espresso.   I had oddly never drunk coffee or for the most part even caffeine when I was young (23 and below).  I think the issue was mainly that I got headaches regularly and was afraid this would increase the problem, but perhaps it was just that I did not want to water down my beer any more than necessary back then (yes I was a pretty typical 20 year old in many ways.  As another aside, it turns out I get fewer headaches now that I drink coffee than I did before).  


A few years later I was in a class that was so far over my head and so much harder than I expected that I just went in and stared at the board for hours understanding perhaps 10 percent of what happened.  This was a non-graded class so I was not in fear for my grades, only for my sanity, but that is also why they did not feel the need to get the students up to speed – they could catch up on their own since there were no grades to worry about.  The idea was that the class was all about learning for its own sake – a reasonable idea.


At about that time I picked up coffee for the first time.  A wise friend pushed me to buy a grinder, decent beans, and a French press.  I do not think I would have ever gotten hooked if I had just been drinking the swill that sits on an office heating pad for hours getting worse and worse by the minute, so I am incredibly grateful to the friend.


I also for a few months loaded my coffee down with sugar and cream before going hard core black.  


Anyway, one day I brought a huge cup of coffee to class.  I drank it as the lecture went on (it was a 3 hour class so it went on for a while).  I sat there and for the first time ever the thought went through my mind “I have no idea what is going on, but I love this class.  Isn’t life great!”  I found the next few classes the same pattern repeated.  The class had not changed.  The only thing that changed was the coffee.  As soon as I realized that the coffee made me insanely happy that coffee was not something I liked, but something I loved.  I never looked back again (unless this counts).  Years and years later I do not think I get the dramatic mood shift I did back then, but I still love it.  Perhaps this is like the difference between the new love you have when dating and the old love of a long term committed relationship.

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