Dear Coffee,
I started drinking you with milk and sugar out of a baby bottle. Literally. My grandparents would slip my little toddler self a drop or two on the sly. Then it became coffee in a sippy cup. When I became old enough, I drank you from a ceramic mug. I’ve been drinking you ever since. My parents blame you for my short stature, but I love you anyway.
I love you lots of ways. We started off with a very basic relationship. Hot coffee with milk and sugar, only in the mornings. I liked you before I even really knew what you were about. Caramel-colored and sugary sweet, it was like drinking candy at the beginning. The concept of “caffeine” was foreign to me; I’ve always just liked how you tasted.
The older I got, the more I learned about all the different ways I could have you.
Light
Dark
Milk, no sugar
Sugar, no milk
Cream
Hazelnut, raspberry, butterscotch…
Latté
Macchiato
Frappe
Cappuccino
Extra foam
When I learned about all-nighters, I finally understood the energy boost you give. I started taking you black, no milk, no sugar, when I got desperate for another few hours of productivity. You were bitter and accompanied my dwindling positivity as the nights wore on with work and anxiety.
Even then, I still loved you for your smell, your color, and your warmth. You stopped being a “morning only” thing, or an “all-nighter thing”. You became an any time thing. The beauty of you is that somehow, you’re not an “every day” thing. I don’t have to be having breakfast and I don’t need to be craving an energy fix. Sometimes, I am just in the mood for coffee. And sometimes I’m not.
Even when we’re not together, you know I always love you.
There are so many ways and places that I can get you. I can make you the old-fashioned way on my stove. I can put you in my Keurig. You can cost a dollar at a deli, 4 at Dunkin’ and 7 at Starbucks. I can spend a whole day lounging in a shop dedicated solely to you. You can be beautifully low or high maintenance.
You changed my life the moment I ordered you iced.
I’ll admit I was hesitant about it at first. Watered down, cold coffee sounds nasty as hell. I have avoided involving myself in the fad for years. A free period on a hot May day in senior year and a craving led me to you. It was too sweltering out for hot coffee to be acceptable, and so I sucked it up and got iced.
Now, I have an excuse for coffee in any season and any type of water. It’s just a sign that we belong together like iced hazelnut with cream and sugar.
I love you, coffee. I’ll never stop trying your flavors and brews.
We’re in this for life.
