Coffee and Tea for Me

Caffeine has long been an important part of my life. Ever since I discovered the great benefits that a big cup of coffee could provide me, I was all in. My addiction started in high school with the late night trips to Waffle House. This was a great way to have a place in which my friends and I could hang out for hours without ever getting hassled. We could drink buckets of coffee and make plans for how we would take over the world.

College was also fueled by coffee. It was able to bring the kind of late nights that I wished I had experienced in high school. Spending all night at the raves and doing whatever I wanted was a welcome relief from military school blues. I discovered Jittery Joes in Athens and started experimenting with “classy” coffees like cappuccino and latte. Through it all, I still came back to the standard coffee for which I have come to know and love.

After college, I started working in restaurants full time and learning the finer things about coffee. I learned about the kinds of beans that I liked best and the conditions which would allow me to get the kind of flavor that I liked best. I learned that I like hilltop, Arabica beans much better than Oceanside Robusta beans. I also learned that I am not a can of the common Italian roasts. I prefer a dark roast with nutty characters instead.

Teas started out as something which I liked more for herbal tastes than I did for black teas. I only ever enjoyed black tea when I was at the Chinese restaurant and I was drinking it with a meal. As I matured and discovered haunts like Teavana, I discovered the world of white teas and all of the other varieties. While I am far from a tea connoisseur, I am a bit more educated than the average tea bag drinker.

Through it all, I still prefer to have a great cup of coffee. I have a wonderful Krups coffee maker with a filter built in to make a perfect pot of coffee. I have not bought into the pod technology as it is just too much for me. I cannot fathom paying so much for coffee. I am spending enough to get the best coffee beans and a wonderful machine to make it with. I will keep it simple right now and keep feeding my addiction to caffeine in the way I like best.