I Like Coffee, I Like Tea...
Hey.
I've been addicted to caffeine since I was prescribed coffee (along with Dexedrine) as a boy of seven years' age. I know there are worse substances to be hooked upon, and I'm thankful that I've been able to avoid such things so far. But just the same, I wish I could break my cycles, just to say that I could.
It used to be that in the summertime, I could leave the caffeinated beverages and the chocolate out of my diet for a couple weeks or so, gladly trading my tea habit for lemonade, orange punch, and the like. But since moving to Tennessee it's been harder to do that. Especially since my folks still seem to think that chocolate in any form is a treat for me any day of the year. Nothing wrong with chocolate, I guess...although around Christmas and birthdays and Valentine's and Easter we wind up practically overdosing on the stuff.
Working a night job had been no picnic. I had to rely on coffee and tea to keep me running. And then I'd have trouble sleeping overday and waking up in the late afternoon to start it all over again. I did two one-year "tours of duty" as a night man at hotels...and it's ultimately no surprise that my caffeine habits have been at least a contributing factor to both my burnouts. Wish I could blame my college freshman burnout on caffeine too--but I can only blame myself, I gave myself too much of a class workload that term.
I drink about a pitcher of tea a day and supplement that with one or two cups of coffee/mocha/hot cocoa and the odd snack. Dad's homemade chocolate chip cookies are a frequent delivery vehicle in this house. Or Dad will hand me a chocolate milkshake he made for me without me asking him. (Up here, I don't like drinking anything cold in a month whose name has an "R" in it.) Someday I'll crunch the numbers and see what it comes to in caffeine milligram terms. I'm afraid of the final figure.
As for carbonated beverages, I reserve those for eating out and often not even then. I like the places that have serve-yourself soda fountains...sometimes I'll mix a drink that's part orange and part Mountain Dew/MelloYello. I used to drink root beer more often but that specific taste has changed a little.
Ever think of what goes into your body in geopolitical terms? Of course, coffee comes from South America and places in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific. Cocoa comes from Africa, as does the kola root to flavor your Cokes and Pepsis. Tea comes from all over Asia and the Indian Ocean region. Sugar comes from the Caribbean and Polynesia...and even plantations in South Florida. What do you know about the planters of these crops? What do you know of the people who tend them and harvest them? What do you know about the people shipping them to our markets? Madison Avenue has co-opted all of their voices from us. Maybe as a culture we really are in grave danger if we can't see past the shelves of the supermarkets and discount stores.
I like coffee and I like tea. But I wish I could be sure that they are my servants and not my masters.
I've been addicted to caffeine since I was prescribed coffee (along with Dexedrine) as a boy of seven years' age. I know there are worse substances to be hooked upon, and I'm thankful that I've been able to avoid such things so far. But just the same, I wish I could break my cycles, just to say that I could.
It used to be that in the summertime, I could leave the caffeinated beverages and the chocolate out of my diet for a couple weeks or so, gladly trading my tea habit for lemonade, orange punch, and the like. But since moving to Tennessee it's been harder to do that. Especially since my folks still seem to think that chocolate in any form is a treat for me any day of the year. Nothing wrong with chocolate, I guess...although around Christmas and birthdays and Valentine's and Easter we wind up practically overdosing on the stuff.
Working a night job had been no picnic. I had to rely on coffee and tea to keep me running. And then I'd have trouble sleeping overday and waking up in the late afternoon to start it all over again. I did two one-year "tours of duty" as a night man at hotels...and it's ultimately no surprise that my caffeine habits have been at least a contributing factor to both my burnouts. Wish I could blame my college freshman burnout on caffeine too--but I can only blame myself, I gave myself too much of a class workload that term.
I drink about a pitcher of tea a day and supplement that with one or two cups of coffee/mocha/hot cocoa and the odd snack. Dad's homemade chocolate chip cookies are a frequent delivery vehicle in this house. Or Dad will hand me a chocolate milkshake he made for me without me asking him. (Up here, I don't like drinking anything cold in a month whose name has an "R" in it.) Someday I'll crunch the numbers and see what it comes to in caffeine milligram terms. I'm afraid of the final figure.
As for carbonated beverages, I reserve those for eating out and often not even then. I like the places that have serve-yourself soda fountains...sometimes I'll mix a drink that's part orange and part Mountain Dew/MelloYello. I used to drink root beer more often but that specific taste has changed a little.
Ever think of what goes into your body in geopolitical terms? Of course, coffee comes from South America and places in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific. Cocoa comes from Africa, as does the kola root to flavor your Cokes and Pepsis. Tea comes from all over Asia and the Indian Ocean region. Sugar comes from the Caribbean and Polynesia...and even plantations in South Florida. What do you know about the planters of these crops? What do you know of the people who tend them and harvest them? What do you know about the people shipping them to our markets? Madison Avenue has co-opted all of their voices from us. Maybe as a culture we really are in grave danger if we can't see past the shelves of the supermarkets and discount stores.
I like coffee and I like tea. But I wish I could be sure that they are my servants and not my masters.