This Thing Called Coffee

It all started innocently enough. At first I’d think “Coffee?? You are out of your mind!! It’s vile tasting stuff! No way will I drink that!” But see then came the late night studying and jet lag and I’d walk into Starbucks thinking, “Surely there is one thing I can stomach in here…” [Insert White Chocolate Mocha here]. Mmmm, the yummy goodness. Being a poor college kid with limited resources I kept my distance so we were safe from forging a big bond.

Then came my first job, still fairly safe. After all the coffee pot had only one thing – coffee. How do people drink this? No sugar, no flavor? Just COFFEE?

Then came my second (and current job) with 5:30 a.m. wake up calls, getting to the office at 6:30 a.m. to be the first one there, the first one dialing, the first one learning. Onward to the airplanes, traveling 3x/month at a minimum – many times it was weekly going cross country to track down deals and work my way up the corporate ladder. And with that – came more coffee. One fateful week spent in DC with my longest running friend (ha!) we’ll call her D-Mo to protect the innocent… she introduced me to flavored creamer. And would I like some coffee with my creamer? Yes please!

Slowly but surely I kept noticing myself putting less creamer, more coffee. “What am I doing?” I’d think. “Am I becoming a COFFEE drinker?” Alas, I could deny it no longer. Not when I justified a coffee pot in my office, flavored coffee from my favorite coffee shop. Wait! What?!?! I have a favorite coffee shop?

Then came our Total Money Makeover and I kept squeezing more and more money out of the budget. The coffeepot was sold on Craigslist and horror of all horrors… I started drinking the office coffee. No worries, one additional Splenda, an extra splash of creamer and we’re fine. We’re FINE. We’re fine… Stinkin grocery budget… needing slashed. Can I squeeze a few more dollars out of it to continue to pay off debt? Hmmm… well, maybe just maybe with enough of the sugar and regular creamer (dry) that are sitting by the coffee pot at work… STOP YOURSELF TIFF! Just stop, come on. Just…

So I found myself, a coffee drinker drinking the free office coffee with the free sub-par cream and sugar. I found myself drinking at my max peak 5 to 6 a day. This just can’t be true, I’d think amused as I walked to the coffee pot for another cup. Somewhere in the midst of this spiral I realized that coffee was not just a source of energy when needed, it was a part of my life. Then came the news from my chiropractor – I needed to stop drinking coffee. You want to start to change your nutrition? Start with this. Huh? What? What do you mean coffee has zero nutritional value? Sure I’d seen the headlines over the years, but had never actually clicked into them… Yes, yes, I stopped when I was pregnant but you know, that was extreme. That was different.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I even stopped for a day or two here and there. But then, I’d miss it. Even after that ridiculous day one headache (I’m sure it never had anything to do with the fact that I didn’t have coffee. Never.) I’d find myself missing my cup of coffee. It was more than a beverage to me. To be the only one up in the morning, sitting with my Bible open and my cup of coffee, sitting at my computer writing with my cup of coffee – I missed my friend.

I decided to stop three weeks ago. I realized that my body needed to be more hydrated and thought I’d try my own little experiment. What if for the most part I just drank only water (yes, this meant giving up my occasional Coke product, which funny enough was starting to line up with the same coffee path as I’d pick one up at the store, then the gas station, then the vending machine at work). I do find myself having a caffeine free cup of lemon tea every now and then. But as I continue down the road with this experiment I still find myself missing my morning companion – but to go back to drinking something that I know has no nutritional value is something I question. Hmmm what is the soulful value compared to the nutritional value. THIS is the stuff that all of those smart geniuses need to start working on!