I didn’t grow up drinking a lot of coffee. We were are tea-obsessed household — if anyone even heard a kettle boiling of the sound of a teaspoon hit a cup, someone would yell “milk and two sugars!” Then everyone else would do the same. Before you knew it you had to reboil the kettle because you now had to make six cups of tea instead of just your own “selfish one”. Ah, good times…
Anyway, all of this to say that despite my continued love for drinking tea, in typical stereotypical Software Engineer fashion I often yearn for coffee. I just needed you to know it wasn’t always this way; It hasn’t even been the same types of coffee. It’s been a journey of sorts. It started at college (university) with a mocha. Specifically, mocha from Prêt A Manger - which I had thought at the time was French but turned out to just be British, with a fancy French name.
Once I started work, though, my fancy hot chocolate with coffee morphed into fuel: specifically a caramel macchiato with an extra shot. It’s best not to be too concerned with the ingredients — that is what fueled my hyperactive brain and drove many late evenings and early mornings coding. I was so regular with my order that on many cold mornings at Victoria Station I wouldn’t even have to wait, they’d just call me up to the front with it ready! I’d often be the first in the Marble Arch office early appreciating the quiet - ready and steady for the day primed with caffeine.
However, my first corporate phase for a moment changed me. I was getting a flat white in the office building, or taking a trip down into Canary Wharf getting americanos, cappuccinos, or double-shot espressos. I knew I had really hit a comfort zone in my work and personal life though when my drink of choice was a cortado; it was a peaceful, posh, unassuming little coffee. Something needed to change. I’d gotten too comfortable and the pace of life clearly and gotten just a little too easy.
After moving to the US the uniqueness of the coffee shops took a bit of a nosedive but I’ve fallen back to “coffee is fuel”! Current fuel of choice? An iced brown sugar oatmilk shaken espresso from Starbucks, which I discovered by chance when I had to be awake but my brain was logging off for the day. Even saying the words lights my brain up like the holiday season is about to begin!
Every now and then, though, even to this day I still fall back to a mocha - more often than not with some peppermint syrup for an extra twist, especially in the colder seasons. Yum! The irony? I write this relaxed and at peace as the weekend is about to begin with a nice cup of tea!
Maybe, though, that’s because I can’t get away with drinking another cup of coffee?
Just musing…