The year is 2008, a day like any other. I had just joined the local university after being a perfect student up until then. It was around that time that I had the thought of genuinely trying out coffee as a regular beverage and seeing what all the fuss was about. Up to that point I had never really been someone who would turn to coffee at consistent intervals. But somehow I was already a caffeine addict, as I had been drinking coca cola for years now. I was at a level of drinking one of those half liter bottles a day. That had to stop, and it did eventually.
So where were we? Ah yes, on a random day I made myself a cup of black coffee. Nothing fancy, just the instant Nescafe kind. I had a taste and immediately my eyebrows drew together from the bitter taste. As I didn't want to stray far from the purist route, I decided milk was for the weak. With that thought in mind, I added 2 tablespoons of sugar to combat the bitter taste, and my go-to warm beverage was born.
I was hooked. Not immediately, but gradually, with each passing cup. Day by day. Coca cola was already out of the picture. I'm not sure anymore whether this was before or after I started with coffee, but the transition was done. From one caffeine substance with lots of sugar to another. While the bitterness of the coffee was disappearing with added sweetness, the bitterness of my mental state was just beginning.
One cup a day become two. Two became three. I was drinking at least 3 cups of black coffee with 2 tablespoons of sugar a day. At least 3... Which means sometimes it was 4 or even five. That adds up to 6 tablespoons of sugar daily, at minimal. You don't need any medical experience to realize that such a lifestyle can't be healthy.
But I did manage though. I was very active in terms of sports, which conveniently compensated all that extra energy I was generating. Although not sustainable long term, the system kind of worked. Then life itself caught up with me. Around 2017 I decided that I wanted to start working somewhere full time, instead of part time what I had been doing until then.
The problem at hand was that I had a difficult time waking up in the morning. I never really paid any attention to it, as my mom or alarm clock always woke me up. And then it reached a point that I would sleep through my alarm clock. This hindered being on time consistently for the full time job I had just gotten. While I'm definitely a night owl, I started thinking that being a night owl doesn't mean you have serious troubles waking up. So I researched sleep patterns and what could obstruct these patterns.
This research led me to reading that large amounts of caffeine and sugar can have a heavy impact on your sleep cycle and can deregulate your sleep patterns. Quitting these two things could help apparently. As I was desperate and the theory seemed valid, I just stood up one day and quite cold turkey. No more caffeine, and no more sugary drinks for good measure. I can be stubborn like that sometimes. Or is it determined?
So there I was, an addict without his addiction. The first two weeks were the worst. Headaches all around, like a heavy metal drummer had taken up space in my brain. I felt tired earlier, and slept more. My body was adjusting. Around the third week, things started normalizing. And after a month, I was completely rid of my bodies need to have caffeine injected into it. I kept this up for 9-12 months, with tea as a substitute every now and then, because I did need something to keep me warm after all. At the end of that period I allowed myself to have coffee again, when I felt like it, irregularly. Sometimes in the weekends, sometimes at work, at max one per day. At the least zero.
I noticed the difference between the years that had past and the present days. Coffee was a means of enjoyment now, and not necessity, never again necessity. Looking at the guidelines for this community and the different member titles, you could say I was an extreme purist in the addictive sense. But as my coffee journey matured and evolved I have now become a "Holic". Finding pleasure in any and almost every type, from pure concentrated black espresso, to mocha, to cappuccino, or maybe a cold brew every now and then. The first picture is of the most recent new thing I tried. Turkish coffee at a turkish restaurant downtown. And then there's the cappuccino below, which I commonly get from the coffee beans machine at work. I really like this one with some kind of caramel or hazelnut syrup in it.
Limited by the commercial lack of coffee here in Suriname, I have yet to visit many more stops on my journey, but this planning goes hand in hand with my plans to travel and see the world. Getting some kind of machine, grinder or press for my home is also on the list of coffee things to do. The road has been a long and not so easy one, but the real journey is only just beginning.
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