Sep 27 2002
Love/hate: Inside Coffee vs. Outside Coffee
Love/hate for Friday, September 27, 2002
Inside Coffee vs. Outside Coffee
I firmly believe that there are two kinds of people: inside coffee drinkers, and outside coffee drinkers. I’m an inside coffee drinker myself, and I just can’t understand those outside coffee drinkers at all.
When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is stumble out to the kitchen and put on the kettle. The cats would like me to feed them first, but no. They have to wait until the kettle is on and the coffee is ground, waiting in its little French press. The coffee is always Caffe Trieste mocha java. No exceptions. It’s caffeine perfection. Just pour it in a cup and I’m done. No pollutants like cream or sugar to come between me and the coffee of bliss.
When the coffee is ready, I take it and my toast back to bed and read while consuming them. Then, and only then, am I able to face the horrors of contact lenses, make-up, getting dressed, and other necessary tasks for a civilized girl before unleashing herself on general society. I realize this means that I’m addicted to the caffeine (thanks to that summer in France when I was 17 and first developed a taste for coffee), but I feel it’s OK because I only have one cup a day. And otherwise, I have such a Puritan life: no liquor, no card playing, no dancing. Well, hardly ever, as the immortal Gilbert & Sullivan would say.
But the outside coffee drinkers…now, they are apparently able to do all these things without benefit of caffeine. They can get out of the house and practically all the way to work uncaffeinated. If you can do that, you don’t need the coffee. Or you don’t need it bad enough, my friend. Yet these people go to one of the five Starbuck’s on the block nearest their place of work and spend an outrageous amount of money on a drink they apparently don’t even need. I will never, ever get it.
I’m not saying that I’m completely immune to the considerable charms of having coffee in outdoor cafés, particularly in Paris or pretty much anywhere in Italy. It’s a wonderful way to people watch or allow one’s feet to recover from the joys of the Uffizi, for example. When in Rome, etc. But at home, I need coffee before I can even think about facing the day. I’m an inside coffee girl.
3 Responses to “Love/hate: Inside Coffee vs. Outside Coffee”
I’m definitely an outside coffee drinker. I am not awake in the mornings enough to actually make a cup. That and its effort and takes time. Much easier to get a cup at work or on the way. Quality varies depending on where you get it from but generally its the caffeine I need. Once I am awake enough to purchase it. Once I have had my coffee I can manage to get through the morning.
Mornings I like a cappuccino, after dinner a straight black. I have to watch myself though. When I put in my first thesis I had 7 litres (14 half litre mugs) and have never been so hi in my life. I have a tendency to go from 1 cup a day to 3 grandee cappuccinos (that?s nine shots of espresso). And I wonder why I have sleeping problems at night and then am tired in the mornings and need coffee.
YES! I am definitely an inside coffee drinker. I can’t function in the slightest without my morning brew, so walking or driving to a cafe would be out of the question.
Unfortunately, I’m addicted to coffee and I am VERY far from being a one-drink-a-day girl. Try more like six to nine. It’s 9:45 p.m. and I just brewed a pot.
Ah well … isn’t the first step admitting that you have a problem?
You know, I’ve just never liked coffee. I don’t like the taste. I don’t like hot beverages, particularly when it’s hot here in Florida.
That doesn’t mean I don’t need a caffeine fix, though. That’s why I like my Diet Dr. Pepper. No measuring. No waiting on the coffee machine. Just open the bottle or can, and it’s perfect every time. Quick, convenient, and definitely buzzing.