In all honesty, coffee was not a tradition in my household when I was growing up. As a matter of fact, we were ignorant as far as coffee was concerned. The common beverage in our house was "tea.”. And by tea, I mean hot chocolate.
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My earliest memory of coffee was back in secondary school. I schooled in an only-girls-boarding school.
On a Tuesday afternoon, my biology teacher walked into our classroom, holding a row of instant coffee packets with a frown on her face.
We had been expecting her for the past five minutes, so we weren’t surprised by her presence. What had us puzzled was the bitter expression on her face and the mysterious object that dangled from her outstretched arm.
By the time she reached her table, the whole class had erupted into low murmurs. What have we done now? And what do the packets she held have to do with them?
“One of your parents bought these for her daughter to drink. She said it would help her daughter stay awake at night so she could study.” She said it in a low tone that reeked of disappointment.
“You children are too young to consume this at your age.” She said this while she set the packets down on her desk.
“This is coffee, and I’m showing it to you so that you’ll be aware of the dangers of drinking it at your age,” she expressed, and she proceeded to shove them into her handbag.
She later went on and on about the side effects. Some being that it could affect our fertility and our brain health negatively. I’m sure she mentioned some other side effects, but those were really all I needed to hear before I made up my mind to never consume it.
As time progressed, I came across coffee yet again, but this time I was at the university. My friends all around me drank it like it was water. Every shop I passed had packets of it hanging from their walls.
This got me curious, and thankfully I wasn’t locked up within the four walls of a boarding school, plus I had access to the internet this time. So I decided to look it up and do some proper research of my own. And come to find out, coffee actually has actual health benefits, such as reducing the risk of diabetes, containing antioxidants, and even protecting against depression.
Who would have known?😮
As a student, I definitely needed that last bit, with all the stress from school I was under. I learned that as long as you took it in moderate portions, you basically good. And so my relationship with coffee began, and it’s been beautiful ever since.
During one of my holiday breaks, I introduced it to my family members. I showed them how to make a basic iced coffee, and they damn near abandoned our beloved OG hot chocolate drink for coffee. Now every morning, my house looks and smells like a local café😄😅
My mom even incorporated it into her skin care routine. She now uses coffee as an exfoliant as opposed to sugar, which she used to use before. Apparently, she loved the smooth finish that coffee gives her skin.
So although my caffeine journey didn’t start until my early adulthood, I look forward to many future memories with it.
Images used are mine
