Friday, September 5, 2008

My Journey with Coffee...


I love coffee. I just had to share it with you all. My love started way back when I was in high school. I would sneak a cup here or there to feel "sophisticated" and grown up. It soon grew into an addiction. Then, when I went off to college I realized there were places you could go just to have coffee or tea. There was a place I used to go called Java Joe's, in the city of Rochester. It is now called Java's. That place took my love of coffee to a whole other level. I would sit there and chat with my girls and listen to some great live music. It wasn't just the coffee, it was the whole experience. My addiction carried on into my married years where early on I became a Barista at a local coffee shop. I was downing 5 cappuccinos during my work shift. Leaded. Yep, I was more than addicted. Hey...they were free, and I couldn't resist. I could drink a cup of regular coffee right before bed and still sleep like a baby. I was immune to caffeine. If they had coffee rehab, I would've been a good candidate. Although, I think you need to be willing to go to those places. Then, I became pregnant with my first. I took a long, hard look at my habit and knew that lots of caffeine was not good for baby so...you can guess what happened next. Cold turkey. I quit. I actually tried quitting coffee altogether by switching to decaf tea. I couldn't take it. I realized that it wasn't just the caffeine I was missing, it was the taste as well. So, I started drinking decaf, which still has a tiny bit of caffeine in it but not enough to effect me. Plus, coffee shops now have decaf espresso so, you can enjoy a caffeine-free latte. Yay for that! Anyway, I had wicked headaches trying to ween myself off of this drug. It really was a type of withdrawal but, it was so worth it for the health of my babe and for me. I cut down on the amount of coffee I was drinking as well, even decaf. I really didn't need unlimited cups of coffee all day...even if it was decaf. So, here we are in present time, I now drink half-caff (half decaf, half caffeinated) coffee in the mornings with my lovely french press (which, by the way makes amazing coffee). And, sometimes in the afternoon I jones for a cup of hot joe and I'll make decaf unless I'm really dragging but, if it's past 2pm, no way, I'll be up all night. Anyway, I'm not sure why I carried on about this. I guess I wanted to just share a little part of me with you. I can really ramble on, can't I?
-Do you love coffee? I'd love to know.
Oh, and I still love going out for coffee with the girls so, If you're ever in my neck of the woods...
*In case you didn't notice, I changed my background. Hope ya like it. I do. :)

5 comments:

Tracy said...

I love coffee too!! :-D

My story is similar to yours; I also became addicted in high school, and then even more so in college when I'd get together with friends at the coffee place on campus to hang out and chat.

During my senior year, I drank so much coffee trying to stay up late finishing projects that the caffeine started negatively affecting me, so I also quit cold turkey and got to experience those awful headaches. :-P Don't worry though, I'm a controlled coffee drinker now, hehe.

And, I'd LOVE to get coffee with you sometime!! :-)

Amanda @ notsoextraordinary said...

ooo i do like the background. awesome colors!

i am new to the coffee world. I always enjoyed the smell but didn't care for the taste really. but then one day... i tried a frappacino at starbucks and it was all over for me.

however, i still only like it in some form of mocha... it has to be sweetened. the caffeine amazingly enough doesn't keep me up, and i try to limit my intake. i try not to drink more than one a week, only because they are so sugary (at least the way i like it :) and because I don't have the ability to make it so good myself, so it's expensive! often it's more like once every few weeks.

But there aren't many things i enjoy more than sitting at java's (i love that place) with a friend and enjoying the coffee and atmosphere... esp when it's cold out :) heaven!

i'll get coffee with ya sometime too! i think that would be fun

Simply Shannon said...

Funny that I should find this post right now. I've always hated coffee.
This morning I decided to take my daughter to BK for breakfast. I ordered one of the meals and asked for OJ instead of coffee, but they misunderstood and gave me both.
I didn't want to waste the money, so I decided to see if a large amount of milk and splenda would make it palatable to me. Surprise of all surprises...it worked! I'm just finishing up my very first first cup o' joe right as I finish typing this.

Circular Logic said...

I started drinking cappuccino in college...I didn't really like regular coffee...it had to be loaded with sugar and cream! I drank a little bit of coffee for a few years, and I loved using my french press, but my true addiction is tea with milk. My grandma always drank it, but I never understood how she could drink tea with milk but no sugar. Then, as many people do as they grow older, I became more like my grammy and started drinking tea with milk. I guess it's those English genes. Needless to say, I fit right in when we went to England in April!

This past weekend we went to a friend's wedding in Rockland county, and I only had a few cups of tea over the course of four days. Boy did I miss it!!! The first thing I did when I got home was "put the kettle on" and made myself a cup of tea.

Andrea@Sgt and Mrs Hub said...

Oh, yes. Java Joe's. :)

I am a coffee lover! Love it, love it. I actually just wrote a post about coffee this afternoon but haven't published it.

Coffee was pretty big in Vermont - especially coffee by local roasters. I really fell in love with coffee there. I sure miss all the variety I had.

-Andrea