This Is Marriage

When your husband lifts his eyes from the pages of Koehler's Dogmatics long enough to look deep into your own, and, relying not on words but on the strength of nearly thirty years of communicative history, to send the silent but unequivocal and performative message: "Coffee."

Here you go, love. Mind if I join you?

He speaks (or not); therefore, he drinks. 

Field Trip

What? You mean you don't take field trips to Starbucks?

I may have to change my coffee (and my profile)

I admit it: I'm a coffee addict. I don't think I drink as much as some people--I generally have two cups--okay, mugs--in the morning and one in the afternoon when the sleepies hit. But I must acknowledge that I am dependent, especially on that first morning cup. Without it I can count on a headache.

For years now I have been drinking Caribou coffee. I just prefer the taste to Starbuck's. We like Caribou coffee so much that a few years ago my husband looked into opening our own franchise. (I'm kind of glad he stuck to church music.) At that time he also looked into concerns about Caribou's connections to Islamic militants. If you check into Caribou's history on Snopes or Urban Legends, you will find that yes, First Islamic Investment Bank is majority owner of the company and that at one time there was an advisory board member known for having strong anti-Israel and anti-American views. But you will also find that the person in question is no longer on the advisory board (having left in 2002) and that Caribou has hired an American law firm to review its charitable donations and affirm that none are going to organizations banned under U.S. law.

Still, I wonder if my money could be better spent. If only Starbuck's coffee tasted a little better it would be easy! Today, though, I may have another reason to make a change not only to my preferred coffeehouse but also to my profile. Starbuck's, maybe it's time we got to know each other a little better.

I Want My Caffeine

Thanks to Zoe's Dad Greg for making me laugh out loud this morning. If you are a coffee drinker, you have to watch this. I am not a frequent moviegoer so I had never seen the clip before. It's hilarious.

Thank you, Greg and Jen, for sharing Zoe's story with the world and for allowing us to laugh and cry, pray and praise, with you. It is a privilege.

Coffee

When it comes to coffee, I love dark roasts--the darker the better. My local coffeehouse of choice generally starts the day with three choices of brew--dark, light, and decaf--but as morning wears into afternoon they cut back to only two--regular & decaf. Sometimes the regular blend is dark, but sometimes it is not.

Over the weekend I was in Mequon, Wisconsin with my son for a chess tournament (details forthcoming!) and lo and behold found myself only blocks away from a Caribou franchise. So at the appointed time (usually about 1:30 or 2:00 in the afternoon) I left the tournament site and braved the rain and snow to get my afternoon "fix." But wouldn't you know it--the brew on tap was a light, not dark roast. Sensing my disappointment, the barrista suggested I add an espresso shot for depth or try an "Americano"--a dark brew made with espresso and hot water.

I went for the Americano and was not disappointed. It was delicious! It wasn't until my next stop into Caribou several days later that I discovered why I may have enjoyed that medium Americano as much as I did. It's made with three--count them, three--shots of espresso! A medium cup of regular coffee at Caribou boasts 190 milligrams of caffeine; I often order a "half-caf," cutting those 190 milligrams down to 95. A medium Americano, however, has 270 milligrams of caffeine. The fact that I tolerated it so well has once again started me thinking about my caffeine consumption. When my husband and I make coffee at home in the morning, we usually make "half-caf," so my two 8-ounce morning mugs are the equivalent of one medium at the coffeehouse. I usually end up having the equivalent of another 8-ounce cup sometime in the afternoon. So a typical day finds me consuming at least 270 milligrams of caffeine, but sometimes more. When I had the Americano, I was probably over the 500 mark that day, and I didn't notice any particular physiological effect (other than that it tasted really good!).

I can't quite pin down when my coffee consumption got so heavy. When I first started drinking it in college, I had maybe one cup a day. In time that grew to two. In the last 5-10 years I have started drinking coffee almost daily in the afternoon. I love my coffee break. What I don't love is how I feel if I don't have it, and that has me thinking it's time to cut back. But when one typically wakes up between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m. and doesn't go to bed until 11:00 p.m., that's easier said than done. By lunchtime I am usually already dragging, and that afternoon cup of coffee, enjoyed after my post-lunch 20-minute catnap, energizes me for the many hours still to come. And because I have to stop whatever I am doing to make the coffee, the mere act of drinking it is like a pause button for my life, forcing me to take a little time for myself and symbolically proclaiming that "I am worth it" (HT: Meredith Baxter Birney). I would really miss that afternoon treat if I had to give it up altogether, and I'm sorry, but decaf is just not the same.

So I'd be interested in hearing from my fellow coffee addicts out there: compared to yours, is my caffeine consumption light, moderate, or extreme? Do you think I need to cut down? Is caffeine addiction really all that bad? If I'm drinking too much, how much should I cut back? And more importantly, HOW do you suggest I do so without feeling totally deprived and sorry for myself (not to mention exhausted)?