My Relationship with Coffee

Coffee and I have an understanding. It does not ask me to be cheerful at 5 in the morning. I do not expect it to perform miracles. We have reached a compromise and every weekday begins the same way…

My alarm goes off far earlier than any human should willingly experience, and somewhere between turning it off and remembering my own name, there’s coffee.

Not because I am addicted. That’s what I tell myself, anyway. It’s simple…a very committed friendship.

My first cup isn’t even about the taste… I couldn’t tell you whether it’s fruity, nutty or has a the subtle notes of caramel. At 5 in the morning, it could taste like cardboard. As long as it’s hot or cold and contains caffeine, we’re off to a good start!!

The second cup is different. That’s the one I enjoy. The one where I can finally appreciate the smell instead of simple inhaling it like emergency medicine…. As a teacher, though, finishing a hot cup of coffee is almost a mythical achievement, one might say.

I will make one cup. Take two glorious sips. Then someone needs something. Or I remember something. Or life just happens.

By the time I return, my coffee has entered room temperature. We look at each other in disappointment. Sometimes, I reheat it. Sometimes twice. Occasionally, three times. By the fourth reheating, we’re both pretending this is still acceptable. Even though, it isn’t.

Coffee also has an incredible ability to improve conversations. Some of the best chats I have had have started with ”Fancy a coffee?”. Nobody said ”Let’s discuss life over a glass of lukewarm tap water”. Coffee just slows people down. It gives you permission to stay a little longer, to tell one more story, to ask another question, to sit in comfortable silence…

Maybe that’s why I like it so much. It’s never really about the drink itself. It’s about the pause, the little break between everything else life expects from us, the five quiet minutes before work, the catch-up with a friend… The rainy Saturday morning. The moment when the world can wait because the coffee is still brewed.

Coffee doesn’t solve problems. It doesn’t make Mondays disappear. It certainly does not convince me that waking up at 5 in the morning is a sensible life choice… But, somehow… it makes all of those things feel just a little more manageable.

And for that, I think we’ve build a pretty good relationship.