It all started when I was a child back in Germany. No, I wasn't allowed to drink coffee at the time, but I could smell it all the time because my family consumed it a lot.
Every morning before work coffee would be brewed in a filter coffee machine, actually multiple rounds since my fam would take it to work in a thermos. Coffee in these same thermoses also kept us awake - or so my family said - on our long drive to our annual family vacation.
Doesn't sound very exciting, right? Mind you this was many, many moons ago before coffee got the kind of connoisseur status it has in parts of the world these days. Back then it was simply a flavorful, not too expensive, hot beverage.
You can see, coffee has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I loved the smell of freshly brewed coffee sifting through the room and still do. Yet I didn't consume the bitter fluid until I was in my early twenties and went to work as well.
That's when the addiction began.
At first, it wasn't that bad. I worked in the office and we had a filter coffee machine right there, so I grabbed one in the morning and was done.
Not too much later I started working for a freight forwarder, now that was a different story. It was a hectic, stressful job, a lot of fun, but a lot of time-sensitive work to be done - pressure! So, what do you do to get an edge and stay on top of things? Grab another cup of coffee!
I don't recall how many cups of coffee I went through per day, but it was a lot. Basically, imagine the mug never having a chance to dry in between coffees. Only overnight.
This went on for five or six years. And then it stopped - abruptly. Why? Because I figured that this much coffee can't be good for me and considering that it tasted - excuse me - terrible (NB - I hate machine filter coffee that is warmed for hours) - why would I drink it?! It was a habit. The coffee was there, everyone else was consuming it and so did I.
No longer, I was done with this coffee addiction.
That was right around the time I moved to Australia. This meant that I adopted the English way of having tea: A cuppa of black tea with milk and a little sugar in the office and herbal tea at home. Funny - I still order that same herbal tea now (Celestial Seasons Sleepy Time Tea).
On vacation when I visited back home in Germany naturally my family would offer me coffee for breakfast, but I was like 'no, thanks, do you have any tea?'. They couldn't believe it. Or understand it. Tea in the morning? Yup, that was me at the time.
But times changed again, as they always do.
I don't recall clearly when exactly coffee crept back into my life. But it did and I welcomed it. Because now it was no longer a drink-coffee-all-day-long-addiction, but rather an enjoy every sip of the black brew when you have a cup.
Unlike my black tea I have always consumed my coffee black (like a forwarder's soul - a German saying among freight forwarders), nothing added to it. As such I loved to have an espresso, well, make that a double espresso, after a nice meal at an Italian restaurant even if it was late at night. Caffeine never bothered me, never affected my sleep as it never seemed to keep me awake, as it does with other people.
Then when I went to work and live in Switzerland I indulged myself in a fully automated coffee maker, a Swiss Jura. One that grinds whole coffee beans - oh, the smell each time I made a cup! - combines it with hot water to make delicious coffee, in a cup. No more warmed coffee for hours, but freshly brewed when I wanted it.
Since then I have had similar coffee machines wherever I lived to enjoy my morning coffee, still black unlike the photo taken as a product shot. Every now and then, very rarely I will make myself a latte or cappuccino. Usually, those are the coffee varieties I order when I go to a coffee shop.
Very recently, only a couple of weeks ago, I have noticed a change again. I no longer drink coffee on weekday mornings 😲. Not quite sure how that happened, it just did. I'll see how long it will last. Yet on the weekend, when hubby and I are having breakfast together it is most definitely time to enjoy a good cuppa of black brew.
And that's the story of my coffee journey - till now.
I did a product photoshoot, still life around coffee a few years back. So I thought I would share a few of the photos here with you in your community. I hope you enjoy!
Unless otherwise noted, all photos, dividers, gifs are my copyright ©Oceanbee|ImagesByCW