aaaah, Coffee!
Funnily enough it didn’t occur to me before now to write about Coffee for my C entry (and, yes, that is deliberately capitalized!)… yet in an odd kind of way, it makes sense. Coffee is one of those things that is so intrinsically a part of my life that I almost don’t think about it.
Even before I drank it, coffee was always around. My mom was a heavy coffee drinker… one of her morning rituals was to make the coffee she’d take along to work. She would pour boiling water into the thermos to heat it, then fill her special over-sized measuring cup with the rest of the water and add the crystals. (1960’s America loved its instant coffee!) A splash of milk, a quick sip to make sure the proportions were correct, then the thermos was then carefully decanted and re-filled with the elixir. The half cup that remained became the final sips at home before she headed out the door.
She drank coffee when it was cold, “to warm up”, she drank coffee when it was hot, “to cool off”. (n.b. - years later, even as a coffee drinker myself, I don’t buy that one!)
Mom just plain drank coffee.
And for years, I never understood. To me, coffee was one of the most disgusting flavors going. Even coffee ice cream, more sugar and cream than coffee, made me shudder.
Adults are just weird…
Then I turned 16 and got a summer job that started at 7 am.
I was always on time, but it’s entirely possible that the boss may have found me once or twice, draped over the counter, moaning for my bed. Whatever the reason, he began arriving each morning with small styrofoam cups of that nasty dark beverage, which he pressed upon me with a stern look. In fear for my job, I tried some…
Hey! This stuff helps you wake up!
Slowly, I became a devotee.
At first, I drank it purely from necessity, kinda like cough medicine. Foul but it worked wonders. Gradually, however, I acquired a taste for the bean. By the time school resumed that fall, I was officially A Coffee Drinker.
I graduated from instant coffee to brewed, learned which roast I prefer, toyed with coffee snobbery (until I realized that I was annoying myself, plus I really couldn’t afford it anyhow,) and discovered the joys of iced coffee. (Mom, really… you should have tried this stuff!)
Really, the story of coffee is in large part the story of my life.
To think I almost didn’t think to tell you!
5 comments:
Ah, coffee... My mother used to make cafe au lait by warming some milk on the stove then adding a bit of instant coffee and a little sugar. She'd have that and piece of toast with butter for breakfast most mornings. Sometimes, she'd let me have a little bit too. Bread and butter and a sip of a latte still gives me flashbacks to those mornings of childhood.
Now, i'm a huge coffee fan - and convinced that it cools me down in the summer. Seriously. It is definitely an elixir.
I absolutely love coffee but have to watch how much I drink because it is so acidic that it hurts my stomach after awhile if I drink copious amounts continually every day.
I use to be a Barista when I was in high school and college, I don't know how I drank so much coffee.
Enjoyed the read, best of luck with the rest of the AtoZ Challenge.
Jazminn
Under Jazminn Skyes
Coffee. Its so essential ;-)
My mum still drinks instant coffee, strong, almost black and lots of it. I have weaned myself off of daily coffee, but prefer a good European coffee shop coffee to what we get over here in the UK. Needs must though so a cappuccino is my thing. However I learned to drink coffee, and instant as a nurse, the only way to wake up and keep your wits about you day or night. Great post xx
o-
Oh, yeah. The first time I had coffee made that way was on my first trip to Britain - and it was definitely love. :-) So it gives me good memories to have coffee made that way, too!
JS-
I hear ya. I’ve had to cut way back due to the acid factor myself.
I could probably stand to just give it up but that’s never going to happen!
Thanks for stopping by, and good luck to you, with the challenge and with your travels!
B-
You know it, chica! ;-)
j-
Cappuccino is a glorious way to imbibe coffee!
Well, almost any way is good anyhow, but that is a particularly fine way, indeed!
Thanks! :-)
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