Coffee Cutbacks

I gave up caffeine for Lent this year. Now with Easter over, I can go back to fully leaded coffee.

The thing is, I don’t really want to.

I became a reluctant coffee drinker after Tad was born. As I have pointed out before, college didn’t make me a coffee drinker. Having one child didn’t make me a coffee drinker. Two children put me right under the table. But the problem with drinking coffee was that I can’t drink it black. It tastes simply wretched to me if I can’t put in flavored creamer – barring that, cream and sugar. The Webmaster prefers his black, but I can’t do it.

I don’t even want to think about the many, many calories in the flavored creamer. And I must admit that I prefer my coffee to be a nice light brunette, if not outright blond. I’ve cut the creamer with milk in the past to balance it out somewhat, but with my deciding to give up caffeine for Lent, I forcibly cut down on my coffee consumption. I wasn’t using it to stay awake anymore. The kids sleep through the night. Sure, they have school and I have to get up with them, and I should be getting to bed earlier, but I learned to do all of that on decaf.

So, what was the point of drinking coffee?

I still will make coffee – after all, the Webmaster enjoys it and Ane likes to have a blond coffee herself in the mornings when the pot is hot – but I just don’t feel like drinking it much anymore. I like going to Starbucks (or, as we euphemistically call it around here, the Green Mermaid – certain kids get too excited when they hear the S-word, because they like getting hot chocolate or vanilla milk there), but with the Webmaster being unemployed, our visits to the Green Mermaid have dwindled down to almost zero. Which is not easy, considering there is one about every three blocks here.

I’m back to drinking tea. I’ve always been a tea drinker – there are very few teas that I dislike. And I don’t put anything in my tea. It’s a combination of the way I was raised, plus my Japanese-influenced horror of putting anything in my tea. Especially green tea. Ewww.

This was actually a lively debate between myself and one of the Webmaster’s friends and roommates shortly before the Webmaster and I were married. His former roommate (who was also one of the groomsmen in our wedding) was British and insisted on having “proper” English tea. We used to complain to each other about the other person’s preferred style of tea. It was fun and funny.

And with Lent over, I can drink all my green teas again. The funny thing is, I don’t drink tea for the caffeine. I drink it because I like it. I do like coffee, but aside from stops at the Green Mermaid, I can live without it.

I opened up a fresh packet of genmaicha last night after dinner and brewed myself a cup. It was delicious. I’ve missed it. But I’m back now.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 12:40 am and is filed under Life in the Pacific Northwest, Mommyhood.
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