Java and Me

It all started innocently enough. Back in the mid-90s while living in San Diego, a college girlfriend and I would often find ourselves hanging out at the many beach side coffee/art houses that are spattered along the San Diego coast. She, having been a local San Diegan and a regular coffee drinker, convinced me to have a Mocha coffee one afternoon. Although I was skeptical (visions of my parents morning chunk-o-coffee bubbling on the kitchen counter was enough to keep anyone away), I decided to embark on this new experience. It was good, really good. Despite the fact that a Mocha is primarily sugar, it opened a door to try new coffee related beverages. I believe they call this a gateway drug. Yes....my mocha that day changed my life forever.

I soon started brewing the bean at home. Shortly afterwards, I hooked up my husband and got him a monkey for his back too. Initially we started cooking up the flavored coffees such as raspberry, hazelnut, and vanilla, but soon we realized the high just wasn't enough anymore. We needed the hard stuff, the real coffee. We needed the coffee with Country names in the title like Arabia, Sumatra, and Costa Rican. We were hard core now.

Fast forward a few years and I was a full on addict. Functions became impaired without the Joe, words became the ramblings of an idiot, mood swings would shift violently, and the headache, my oh my the headache. I would try and give it up, but the coffee pot would sing to me sweet morning lullabies, the grounds would throw their scent around, and within 2 weeks I had fallen off the wagon.

Now that I am supposedly older and wiser, the coffee consumption has cost me more than late nights and acid reflux, I have been diagnosed with adrenal fatigue and high levels of cortisol in my blood (stress hormones). In addition, I have an acid gut with intestinal issues. Now...I have to quit the habit, for my health. I am on day 3 of cutbacks (to help with the withdrawals), and this morning I woke to thumping on my temples, complete lethargy, and as my husband would say, a rather "bitchy" disposition.

I am hopeful that the next few days improve, and by the weeks end, I will be off it all together. I know this is the right thing for me to do.
That being said, I do plan on enjoying the occasional coffee or espresso when I visit the local coffee shops. "Everything in moderation" as they say.

Sidenote- Apparently beta blogger has issues with loading photos into the "about me" part. About every two weeks they lose my picture. I am kind of sick of uploading it, so until they fix it, it will stay blank. My apologies to my many, many fans.