The Coffee Beans Of My Soul

When I was younger, I never particularly liked coffee. When I wanted a warm beverage, I normally gravitated towards tea or hot chocolate. Even as a teenager, the thought of coffee never appealed to me. It seemed "bitter" and I rarely, if ever, drank it. When I did it was some frilly, fluffy, super sweetened version, like a mocha. The “bitter” taste that I despised was lost in all the chocolate and sugar.
 
I never sat down to drink a real straight cup of coffee... until college. Once I was at a point in my life where I needed and appreciated a daily caffeine jolt, I stopped continuously ordering the sugary coffee drinks. It was just way too much sugar to be consuming on a daily basis. So instead I turned to my nemesis, coffee. I quickly discovered that when made the right way and fixed to my likings, it wasn’t as gross and "bitter" as I had previously thought. It was nice, warm, and delicious.
 
As my college career progressed I began to drink coffee more frequently. I’m not saying I drank it all day, every day, but i did drink anywhere between one and three cups spaced throughout the day (depending on the day). I guess you couild refer to this period as the beginning of a beautiful relationship. I didn’t necessarily need my coffee in the morning to function or to wake up, I was fine without it. However, I liked to occasionally have a cup with me in class. For some strange reason, coffee (or tea) helps me focus while sitting in english class after english class discussed iong literature(which I love to do, but the conversation was only interesting if the majority of the class actually read what they were supposed to). So I learned the same lesson as most other english majors, coffee helps during class, homework and just the day in general.
 
When I first started drinking coffee I would add cream or milk, to cut the “bitter” taste, and also sugar. Eventually I decided I didn’t like both at the same time so I would choose one or the other (cream or sugar) depending on my mood. Now, I sometimes even drink it black on occasion. Which may sound strange considering my earlier hate of the “bitter” taste. In my experience that goes away in time. Coffee is obviously an aquired taste. I learned to drink my coffee black at school. There would be days when I was cutting it close to being in class on time by stopping to grab a cup of coffee before class. It got down to making this decision: get to class on time or put sugar or cream in my coffee. I always chose get to class on time, even though it meant drinking black coffee. I pride myself on the fact that I was always on time for class. With coffee. Which was rare in my major. Those who showed up with coffee were generally late. After doing this several times I got used to black coffee and it didn’t seem as “bitter” anymore. I actually prefer it that way on occasion, given that it is good coffee.
 
I guess I have college (my major in particular) to thank for my ability to finally realize my love for coffee. To all those other coffee lovers out there reading this (especially all my fellow english major coffee lovers), I raise my mug to you. Cheers and enjoy!