Coffee & Me

Coffee helps me create, construct and accomplish. No, I don’t have an assistant named “Coffee”, though it would be a nice nickname, what I mean is it assists in my day-to-day tasks.

What I do, creative-wise, requires a lot of mental energy, so much so that I become exhausted, physically. That’s when I have my cup of coffee; it helps with mental fatigue and allows me to get on with my very demanding tasks.

HOW I STARTED

I discovered coffee as most did, the people around me were consumers, therefore I naturally gravitated to it years after I started working.

Creating my whole life and eventually venturing into the media industry, I adopted a regular coffee-drinking habit. I didn’t think much of it really, since it was instant coffee and everyone around more or less consumed coffee the same.

I remember there was a time when the only coffee readily available on the go, would be from those Nescafe machines; The French Vanilla was a favourite from time to time. It’s funny to think it was around $6TT and considered expensive, even by wealthy people.

THE PERKS

When I ventured into web and online development, I realised my brain responded well to “coffee infusion”, almost like the movie Limitless with Bradley Cooper; coffee was my sort of Nootropic or magic potion that allowed me to accomplish more.

When I started my media company doing glamour photo shoots and video production for T.V. Shows, coffee helped with the excruciatingly long hours and sometimes sleepless nights.

After exiting the media industry to focus on my Internet Ventures, that’s when coffee became my sort of daily motivator. I spent long hours working constantly, and that can take a toll on you mentally. 

Fatigue I’ve realised, can lead to a sort of unnecessary negative thinking or depression, and once I’ve had my cup of coffee I suddenly feel like I can take on the world!

ACCOMPLISHING AND EVOLVING

Eventually accomplishing many of my goals, my life returned to normalcy and I eased up on my coffee consumption, taking a break for months on end at times, which I do recommend.

In the last few years, I started taking coffee more seriously. I believe it started with my conscious sugar intake which I tried to reduce drastically and regular instant coffee tasted bad without it. I then realised those “Gold” selections allowed me to consume instant coffee with just milk.

I also tried and compared several of them over time.

Eventually, I became interested in brewing my own coffee beans, but those affordable household machines looked time-consuming to maintain. Coffee beans were not as easily available as there are now, plus I had a serious problem using disposable paper filters. With my daily consumption of coffee, I’d use quite a lot, and since Trinidad is still terrible at recycling, much worse back then, I chose to stick with instant coffee.

Coffee consumption till then was still “by the way for me”, though I enjoyed it a lot.

BEAN THERE, BREW THAT

Then, one day as described in detail here, on my way back from a long hike I stopped at Starbucks for some coffee to treat myself. Even though I had drunk brewed coffee there and in other coffee shops before, over the years, something inside me “clicked” and I decided to take brewed coffee more seriously and not just consider it an occasional treat.

Maybe it was the perk it gave me after feeling exhausted, maybe it was the smoother, satisfactory taste compared to instant coffee, who knows, but from that day I started pursuing better-tasting, true coffee and thus the “Ultimate Coffee Comparison” began.

There were options to brew coffee at home I started looking at that were environmentally friendly, effective, affordable and not too time-consuming. The French Coffee Press was one, all things considered, which I now use daily.

This method is not the end result for my home brewing journey, nor does it produce the smoothest-tasting coffee, but for now I’m happy with it.

I tried consuming instant coffee again recently, and boy did I regret it. How I survived all those years consuming instant coffee, I really don’t know. As Peter McKinnon said, it just tastes “dirty”.

A BREW A DAY KEEPS THE DEMONS AWAY

I really enjoy brewing my coffee at home now and look forward to my two cups daily, it’s almost a ritual. I’m not the type who needs coffee as I wake up or to wake up; I can wait for an hour or two, which apparently is a better practice.

Coffee I often joke is my sort of cigarette since I don’t smoke, and occasionally take a break just to enjoy my cup. Sometimes it can even improve my mood.

COFFEE FOR LIFE

I don’t consider myself an addict, since I don’t need coffee to go about my daily activities, I just want it really. I enjoy the thought of reading or creating and having a cup. I hope I’m never in a situation where I’m advised I can’t have a cup anymore. It will be a sad day.

You won’t find me in any coffee shops unless I decided to treat myself or want one on the go, which is becoming less likely lately since my home brew tastes much better than what’s available in public, not to mention extremely cost-effective. So to all my coffee drinkers and lovers out there, may your cups always be full and may your brew always be fresh!