The Best Medicine

With so many pleasurable things off limits because they are too expensive, bad for your health, or illegal, it's nice that we still have coffee!  I've followed all the possible health concerns about coffee for years, and am always relieved when further information negates the original warning.  Coffee in moderation will apparently do me no harm, and may even hold  Alzheimer's and a variety of other unpleasant diseases at bay.  Hooray for coffee!

My coffee is currently brewed in a Keurig.  It bothers me that there is so much waste with the little K-cups, and it IS a relatively expensive way to purchase coffee, but convenience wins out, and we never have a partially filled pot of coffee sitting around going to waste.  The variety is nice but we pretty much use one specific brand that we both like, plus an occasion cup of tea or dark hot chocolate.  That little machine brings me great pleasure, and gets my mornings off to a good start.

My coffee is generally drunk black, and I don't care for flavored coffee.  I prefer the taste of the coffee itself, though on occasion I may add a bit of milk or real cream and/or some sugar just to splurge a bit.  Wasted calories, but only an occasional treat.  If I stop for coffee at one of the coffee shops that dot every corner, I stick to regular black coffee, whatever the special of the day may be.  It might get doctored up, but is normally enjoyed black, just as it comes from the brewer, and as hot as possible.  Good coffee is always a treat.

Always a treat to be enjoyed by noon, that is.  I don't care for decaf, and only drink afternoon or evening coffee if I'm driving somewhere and need to stay awake and alert.  Otherwise coffee is a morning treat, something to look forward to as I start another work day.  The smell and the taste are so amazing, and I can not understand people who start their days off with a cola drink or hot tea.  Doesn't do it for me!

Yes, I know coffee is addictive, and after all these years my body is quite dependent on it, BUT I deserve to have at least one vice!  Yesterday morning I was in a rush at home and incredibly busy at work.  By late afternoon I had a headache that lasted all evening and was still there when I woke up, but this morning the cause was obvious.  I had had only had two cups of coffee before work, had left the second unfinished in the car, and had not had time for a cup of coffee from the cafeteria.   Caffeine withdrawal, of course.  After the first cup this morning my headache was gone, just like magic.  The magic of coffee.  The best medicine.