Or, how I began drinking my coffee black.
This time last year, I started thinking about doing my first Whole30. It was a daunting thought, really. No added sugar. No grains. No dairy. No legumes. That’s a lot of no’s. And the really surprising no, was the legumes. Because really, haven’t we always been told that beans are good for you? Good source of protein in the absence of meat; filling, tasty. But boy did that cut things out…peanuts, soy anything, hummus. And how many of you are not used to reading labels? Did you ever realize how many things have some sort of soy product in its recipe??? But what was really worrying was coffee.
As previously mentioned, I was hooked on Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. My regular order was Medium Coffee, Milk, 2 Sugar. Let’s face it. 2 Sugar at Dunks is almost equivalent to a quarter-cup. I mean, it’s usually a heaping spoonful, with a dripping trail of sugar. If the person putting together your coffee can swing it, that trail lands in your cup too! How on earth was I going to cut milk and sugar from my coffee? The thought had crossed my mind to just give up coffee for the month of April. I’d giving it up for longer periods of time during Lent. Surely I could do it for 30 days. The question was, did I want to? At the same time, I purchased a Yeti. I was tired of paying $2.39 for a 14oz cup of coffee. And I managed to save a TON of money by making my own coffee.
During the month of February, I decided that I would have to prep myself to drink black coffee. Each morning, I’d wake up, and before I got out of bed, I thought, today’s the day I try to drink black coffee. I’d make my way to the coffee maker, and then I’d put 2 spoons of raw sugar and a splash of milk in my cup.
Sigh.
Sometime around Winter Break, I caught a cold. A nasty one. Colds are usually when I stop consuming dairy; cheese, butter, milk, ice cream. So I resorted to tea – delicious Earl Grey. Delicious and fragrant, it is something I drink with no modifiers…no milk, no sugar, no honey…so tea it is. Then I flew to Seattle.
Working in my sister’s house, I had great coffee available, and I started by putting about an inch of black coffee into a mug. I managed to finish that. It wasn’t terrible. So then I added more warm to the mug – I doubled the first amount. And so on. This is how I learned to love black coffee.
I guess there *could* be a part 3 to this saga. We’ll see. Check back in about 8 months. HA!