(http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0603/1224271746050.html)
The article above is from The Irish Times today discussing the fact that coffee does not make people more alert, and how we will be disappointed by this fact. I disagree; coffee for me is not about the caffeine hit I get from it, if it were I would drink an equal amount of real tea or coke, it's more than that. I think Monsieur Ahlstrom is both missing the point and not a coffee drinker:
To rehash something I have said before - I cannot function without coffee in the mornings, or at the very least ginger and lemon tea and today is no exception. Ask my colleagues. Not that I am cranky, I just cannot really fully process what anyone says to me unless I have had my coffee. It is not the caffeine fix I need either, it is the psychology of the waking up process - in an ideal world I would wake up, turn on 'Morning Ireland', make a pot of coffee and read the paper. Instead I wake up and have a quick shower and get to work because I've hit the snooze button too many times.
On my way to work I like to stop into a shop or cafe and buy breakfast, usually a muffin or a Danish pastry which I bring with me to work and have with that cup of coffee I am by now so longing for. Sometimes I cannot wait and stop into a little French cafe en route and get a take away... but as delicious and strong as this cup of coffee is, it doesn't have the same effect as when I arrive into work, make my little cafetierre of coffee and get that "aah" feeling from the first taste. That moment is bliss, I can now start my day, and all is right with the world.
I am not a morning person, again, not that I am cranky per se, more that I need time to wake up and process the world before communicating with it. I need head space to look at the sun rising, or raindrops pelting off the cars outside, to enjoy simplicities like brushing my teeth after a night’s sleep, having a shower to wake me up, make my bed, and then I am set to go. I think, not about the day ahead, but about what I see in front of me - the guy running for the bus, the woman walking her dog, the couple holding hands, or arguing, the heron in the Lee, the students with perfectly straightened hair who are clearly first years (or commerce students), and I give myself time to wake up and take everything in, before I have to talk to anyone.
I have just had my coffee, and the world is looking pretty good right now.
