I’ve always been a fan of coffee and tea, but it wasn’t until I entered college that I realized it wasn’t just something enjoyable to have on occasion, it was something necessary to survive.

 It all began with frequent trips to Starbucks. When you are meeting new people or working on a project, it’s the perfect location. The more I went, the more I began to crave the fancy coffee drinks. An iced caramel macchiato became my drink of choice since it was sweet and had somewhat of a coffee flavor, but it wasn’t overpowering like some of the other mocha drinks. This is where the addiction began. I slowly moved from ordering grande to venti, and then going more than once a day.

I was never a morning person, but I didn’t hate morning. I was able to get up easily, however, never early enough to make a run to Starbucks. This is when the Keurig became essential to life. My roommate had brought it for our room, and we had hundreds of K-cups, but it wasn’t getting much use until then. The first thing I would do when I woke up was put a K-cup in the Keurig. The aroma of the cappuccino coffee would soon fill the entire room. It was addicting, so I always made two. I would carry my to go mug to class, even though most days I finished the two cups of coffee before class started.

I soon noticed that my alertness in my afternoon classes was a million times better with my morning coffee. Without it, I would be fighting to stay awake by the time it was 11 a.m. The night time coffee also became a regular thing. I would stay up late most nights doing work, and coffee was the only thing that would get me through. My roommate and I soon started having “coffee time” at 11 p.m. and we would switch turns getting up to make coffee for two. By the time it was 12:30 a.m., I would have consumed about six cups of coffee throughout the day. This may sound like a lot of caffeine to have in your body, but it didn’t matter at the time. I knew I had to stay awake, and coffee was the only thing that could help me. 

We were going through so many K-cups that we no longer had any of the creamy and sweet ones, and were left only with the normal coffee K-cups. The first day I drank those, I realized I actually enjoyed the flavor of coffee. The idea of drinking black coffee wasn’t repulsive anymore; it was almost appealing. I was in love. Caffeine may prevent some people from sleeping; fortunately, I have never had this problem. Even with six cups in me, I could fall asleep. This was something that probably fueled my addiction more, since I didn’t seem to be having any consequences from drinking it so much.

Then came the day my alarm didn’t go off and I was running so late that I forgot my coffee. I suffered through three classes with the worst headache. By the time my last class came around, I couldn’t manage to stay awake. I was completely addicted. I then began to limit my number of cups of coffee to only two or three a day. I would have tried to go without it altogether, but finals were coming up, and there was no way I was going to survive those without some caffeine.

Once I went home for summer break, I slowly stopped drinking it as much. Now it’s the end of summer and I only drink coffee on occasion, like I did before college began. However, school is right around the corner and I know that once those early mornings and late nights start again, my craving for coffee will come around. I’m more aware of how much I should be having  and I know that I can stop drinking it just like I have before. My love affair with caffeine will return. And, honestly, I’m looking forward to it.