Being the incredibly basic white girl that I am, I find myself at Dunkin' or Starbucks with my friends quite often to grab a cup of joe. What isn't basic, however, is the way I take my coffee: black. Every time, without failure, I receive criticism for this oh-so-simple life decision. I get the classic, "Ew, I can't believe you pay money for that," and the, "Do you even really like the way it tastes? I just can't," all of the time. Just to clarify, yes, I do like the taste, and you should learn to love it too.
Here are five reasons why you should drink your coffee black:
1. It's super cheap.
A lot of people don't know that black coffee is actually significantly cheaper than a lot of the more sugary drinks offered at places like Starbucks. Just about any cafe or restaurant will price black coffee much lower than you may think.
2. It cuts a ton of calories.
I think we underestimate just how much sugar and cream our favorite coffee shops load up our drinks with. Excess consumption of sugar is one of the fastest ways to gain weight, and I'm sure that's not what a lot of people want to happen. Why not grab something that'll give you energy, but keep you healthy?
3. It's a great pre-workout boost.
Drinking black coffee gives us an immediate energy boost, which can be very helpful before exercising. Sugary coffee with cream in it is more likely to make us feel sluggish and tired, thus, not performing our best during a workout.
4. You're actually tasting something.
Before I started drinking black coffee, I found that all of my caffeinated beverages started to taste the same, and then I realized why. Sometimes there's so much sugar in these drinks that it completely masks the taste of the coffee. Hell, do we even know if it is coffee? The point is, after switching over to black, I definitely feel more well-versed in the most common types of coffee brewed.
5. For once in your life, you won't be basic.
Nobody really knows why, but for some reason, black coffee-drinkers are looked at differently. Not like they've got something to hide, but like they know something you don't, and they're keeping it to themselves. Drinking black coffee is "different," if you will, and I often get the feeling that other people perceive it to either be cool, or an attempt at being cool. But, either way, anything's better than being basic.
Black coffee has been my buddy for a long time now, and it'll definitely be my buddy for life. It helps me open my eyes in the morning, make healthy adjustments to my lifestyle, and allow me to focus when I need to. I'm finally done with this mocha/macchiato/frappuccino nonsense because, once you go black, you never go back.
