Hi, my name is Meredith and I'm apparently powerless over coffee.
I've completely quit drinking coffee a few times. The time I remember best was circa 1982. I'd developed a major Super Joe habit during graduate school, years earlier.
Yes, dear (younger) readers (if I have any) this was a time before St. Arbucks. Dunkin' Donuts was the place to go for great coffee. I went to graduate school at New York University, so I could also get a great cuppa from the deli en route to my study carrel.
By the time I was on the Sociology faculty at Rutgers-Camden, I was drinking Medaglia D'Oro instant expresso. Don't judge me. It was a difficult time in my life, which you'd think would have prevented me from declaring The Bean evil. But I was experiencing cold shakes after only three mugs, so I knew I had to quit.
I stayed stopped until 1994.
Decaf was the gateway drug back. I went to /2 caff and 1/2 decaf after two weeks of being in "the rooms."* I was guzzling leaded high test within a month. After a few years and getting my "brains out of hock,"** I could no longer ignore how the accompanying gastric upset was not at all mitigated by therapeutic doses of Ranitidine, so I quit. Again.
I stayed pretty much stopped, getting my caffeine in other (insufficient) ways. Then what happened? A unholy trinity of things: 1) my Twitter stream is filled and flowing with heavy duty coffee drinkers who tweet about all things coffee day and night; 2) I was missing the taste; and 3) I needed...wanted...the jolt.
Currently seem to be holding steady at a 1/2 and 1/2 mix. Tipping the balance to more caff is really not a good look or feel for me.
Yes, I'm back to The Bean. Go ahead, judge me.
* & ** If you know what these expressions mean, you'll know what happened in 1994.
