I admit to having had an on again and off again love affair with coffee for over 35 years. The cabinets and closets in our home reflect the many devices or methods that have gone in and out of vogue that have allowed me to enjoy my morning coffee. So of course today it was not really unusual to begin the morning preparing my daily cup. Except I became fully aware today about a shift that has been happening for the better part of this year.
At the beginning of this year I began doing research about the ways in which we do things that reduce our overall effectiveness. This of course led to my becoming aware of the many legal ways we effectively damage our bodies and our brains. We all know about many of these things such as smoking, alcohol abuse bad foods, too much sun, and yes even too much caffeine. Yet, honestly so many of us still do many of these things despite evidence of the damage they can cause. My new understanding of the damage done by the things I was doing in due course led me to work to further improve what I perceived to be a fairly healthy diet and lifestyle. I reduced my sugar intake even further, tried and failed to reduce my potato chip consumption (still a real problem for me) and even worked harder to consistently get 7 hours of sleep each night. I went back and forth about caffeine for a few months even experiencing a brief period when I swore off the drink completely. My daily habits have changed and will continue to get better as I remain focused on these things. But coffee still maintains a fairly central role in my daily routine.
This week as I began my re-entry to my work routine following our vacation a couple of things about Europe have continued to stay with me. Most people know about the experience of sitting in a cafe in France, or Italy. Usually when you speak to people that have spent time there almost everyone will talk about the wonderful experience of sitting in a cafe having their favorite beverage. Like most people I too visited a number of cafes during our trip. When I was able to do that in the morning I would have my morning coffee which of course meant an espresso. In fact most mornings it actually meant having two or perhaps three espressos. Today it struck me that perhaps I have had this whole thing wrong. I simply took my American habits overseas with me. While my home routine typically involves having enough coffee (meaning at least one large cup) to accompany my breakfast, what I saw in Europe was many people having just one espresso (with bread at times) and then going on their way.
For many years when I made coffee I made a pot. This despite the fact that I am the only person in my home that drinks coffee. Over time I have reduced this to smaller amounts for my personal consumption but usually I have made no less than four cups (as measured by the coffee maker meaning 32 ounces) even though more often than not I have thrown much of this away. This year I moved back to making coffee in my Bialetti (remember I have all sorts of coffee making devices). This is a simple coffee making device used in Italy to make coffee in relatively small amounts. Still, my own Bialetti is large enough to make about one 12 ounces of coffee at once. The coffee is quite strong when made in the Bialetti since the device is actually designed to make espresso. I found myself sometimes pouring more than half of my cup away each day.
Now I get it. I think that people in some parts of the world have learned that sometimes we enjoy something best when we enjoy less of that thing. Espresso cups are small not just because they are cute or sophisticated, but they are small because the suggestion is that you don’t need a lot of espresso (OK sometimes I admit to being slow). Having two cups in the morning is perhaps more than you need and if you really do need more than one cup it suggests that what you really need is more sleep not more coffee.
So as my ever evolving relationship with coffee continues we are now at a place where It will be just one espresso for me each morning (I love you coffee but I think we need to see less of each other). I know that my body will function better with this reduced amount and perhaps I will grow to really enjoy that brief morning interlude. After all, I do recall that sometimes the briefest of encounters are often times the greatest. And so it goes for me and my morning drink. Now if I could just balance out the rest of my day in this manner but I guess that is for yet another post.
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