coffee and me

I confess – I was once a coffee Philistine, but after a change in circumstances, converted to the Church of Caffeine.

I grew up believing that coffee was bad for you. Being petite, as a child I was told not to drink coffee or I’d never grow tall. When I was nine, I endured an entire year of weekly growth hormone shots. At 21, I reached my full height of 4 feet 10 inches never having touched a drop of coffee. The old childhood conditioning stuck, though it obviously failed to add to my height.

Once, in college, I did take a cup of coffee at a student political meeting (I didn’t want to look out of place) – but there was more milk than coffee in my cup, into which I emptied half the contents of the sugar bowl. The waiters were snickering. “Para kang bata,” they said. (“You take your coffee like a child.”)

At 34 I had to go back to work after ten years of being a domestic goddess. As a horseracing sportscaster on cable TV, I had to stay up until midnight four days a week, every other week. I wasn’t used to burning the midnight oil. In the studio, simply everyone was sucking down that brown fluid like it was water. I figured, I’m not going to get any taller. So I took my first sip in years – and was hooked.

Now I can’t work without a java jolt. The more caffeine in my cup, the better. I got over the palpitations and jitters. Now it’s pure mental alertness. Hallelujah!

Composite image from here.

taste more: