I thought I could live without it. I gave it up 9 years ago, for Pete’s sake. Surely if one can go almost a decade without something, they need not return to it. Yes, it had gotten me through some tough times. But I had ended our relationship, and I hadn’t looked back since.
Then, last fall, there was no green tea at my continuing education seminar. Hot tea, specifically of the green variety, has been my drink of choice for the past several years.
Sure, water and soda had been set out at the beverage station next to the registration table. But there was also coffee. Life-giving, glorious coffee. I evaluated my chances of making it through four hours of an ethics lecture in a semi-darkened auditorium without a hot beverage and decided that it was time for a change.
I started with a half-caf. After all, I had dutifully stopped drinking coffee all those years ago based on the supposed ill effects of caffeine. I had been pregnant at the time, and the smell of coffee made me sick anyway. However, even after the baby chapter of my life had closed, I had found I couldn’t stomach a Starbucks, as much as I wanted to. The caffeine jolt made me nauseous the few times I tried a post-baby cup of joe. And so I had basically written it off. Expunged it from my life. Forgotten all the pleasure that bitter black beverage had brought to my younger years. Forgotten the late nights when coffee had helped me study during finals. Forgotten a few hung-over mornings when coffee had stopped the pounding in my head.
I sat in the conference room in my sensible blazer and sipped from my steaming paper cup, and it all came rushing back. The times spent sitting in George Webb for hours over a bottomless cup of coffee, chatting with a friend, solving the world’s problems. The cross-country road trips for spring break or no reason at all, fueled by gas station coffee. Rainy days curled up on the couch with a good book and a cup of coffee. By the time my first cup was empty, I had experienced a double reawakening: I was wide awake and I had rediscovered my love of java.
I had always been a purist. I drank my coffee black. And I find that I still do. Pumpkin spice and whipped cream belong nowhere near my caffeine. But I’m also not a coffee snob. I happily stop at Kwik Trip after dropping my kids at school to pick up a large House Blend, and I am just as satisfied with that as I am with a venti Pike Place Roast from the local Starbucks. Well, almost. 🙂
Like many folks, I have significantly curtailed my vices since I procreated. So adding coffee back into the mix doesn’t feel so wrong. I deserve a little pick-me-up in the morning. Don’t we all?
And I wonder….how in the heck did I make it this long without it? How did I get through the baby years, the terrible twos, potty training and even the first day of kindergarten, all without a cup of coffee? What was I thinking? Perhaps it was temporary insanity brought on by lack of sleep.
Now, I’m a full-fledged coffee drinker again. I even made it official – I brought coffee back into our house. Just a couple of weeks ago, I pulled out the hand-me-down Keurig kept in the pantry for overnight guests and picked up some K-cups on my Target run. And they weren’t even half-caf.
Does this mean I have to give up my green tea? My virtuous green tea? After all, when you look around, it seems the world is split into groups according to beverage preference. There are coffee drinkers, tea drinkers, soda drinkers, etc. And the lines don’t often blur. My mom drinks coffee. My mother-in-law loves her Diet Mountain Dew. My husband is a reformed coffee drinker – he turned to tea with me. What will my defection do to him? Serious questions, folks!
I hope I can maintain my relationship with tea. It’s been good to me, too. It didn’t help me through law school, but it did stick by my side through the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse years. I would hate to lose it.
How about you guys? Team Coffee, Team Tea, or none of the above?