Til I met coffee

“Sunday morning, rain is falling.”

I slept late last night and woke up after hearing the soft pitter-patter of rain. It was as if the rain was the one who told me to wake up. I stared first into the ceiling and then organized a list of things-to-do-today inside my head. I stared into the window to examine the cold weather. It's already May, but it kept on raining for days. I finally stood up and started my day with coffee.

As I was preparing my coffee, my mind drifted away as I got enveloped by its enticing aroma. We have our own preferences with regards coffee. It could be served hot, cold, sweet, or bitter. I prefer all those types depending on my mood. And hot coffee will be perfect with today's weather.

I went to sit on a sofa near the window with the cup of hot coffee on my hands. As I sip through my morning coffee, a thought suddenly crossed my mind. I've been drinking coffee for ages but I don't have any idea where this drink originated. I suddenly got curious and I ended up choosing a topic for my thought of the day. "Coffee: How it all began."

Before diving into the historical part of coffee, I had to define first what is coffee. According to Google, coffee is a drink made from the roasted and ground beanlike seeds of a tropical shrub, served hot or iced. There are other definitions but it just simply means a hot or iced drink made from coffee beans.

Nobody knows exactly when coffee was discovered, though there are many legends and theories about its origin. According to a popular legend, it was discovered by a goatherd named "Kaldi". He discovered coffee after he noticed that after eating the berries, his goats became so energetic that they did not want to sleep at night. The word "coffee" was derived from Kaffa Province Ethiopia- the place where Kaldi lived and discovered coffee. A journey began that brought the beans across the globe. And as early as 1740, Spaniards introduced coffee to the Filipinos.

I took a bite on the pandesal that I paired with my hot coffee. I stared into the window and into the formed puddles as the rain met the ground. Another question entered my mind. What if the Spaniards did not introduced coffee to our country, would I still be able to meet my favorite drink? Or would I end up choosing milk or tea instead as my favorite drink? I answered my own questions, and dramatically as it may seem, I could not imagine how my life would have turned out if I did not meet coffee.

My mind went down on a memory lane when I first met coffee. Coffee was introduced to me by my parents when I was a kid. I used to drink milk back then because children were supposed to drink it. One time, I got curious why my parents were drinking a different type of milk. I thought it was a strong scented black milk. They eventually told me it was not milk, but coffee. When I tried to ask if I can drink one, they told me straightaway that it was not a drink suitable for kids. They had this belief that drinking coffee as a kid wouldn't help you grow up. But as a kid, we tend to break some rules because of too much curiousity.

I tried to make my own coffee. It was siesta time, so I grabbed the chance. I sneaked into our kitchen, and immediately grabbed a stick of coffee. Of course, the first attempt was a total failure. I thought my tongue became numb because of its bitter taste. I quickly threw off the black liquid onto the sink and told myself to forget what had happened.

Coffee, specifically black coffee, was frequent in our family (including my grandparents, aunties, and uncles) especially during breakfast and merienda. When I watched them drink coffee, they looked like they really liked it despite its bitter taste. Later on, I learned that what makes coffee sweet was because of sugar. I tried to make coffee again and again before it suited to my taste. I learned to adapt my family's daily routine of coffee as a part of breakfast and merienda.

I was already drinking halfway and I stared back into the window. As I stared back again, my graduation photo on the wall caught my attention. I was smiling after years of hard work, and I snorted as I remembered the crazy amount of coffee that I had consumed just to get out of university.

When I entered college, coffee became my companion during late night studies. There, I met different kinds of coffee. I had to change my preference of black coffee to instant ones because it was convenient and ready to drink. Coffee was no longer just a part of a breakfast nor merienda, I consumed it whenever I needed it to go through tough times. During sleepless nights, coffee made me alert and awake. It was also my very own tool in coping up stress. Coffee was life.

However, coffee and I weren't that always in good terms. During hellish weeks of exam, I thought coffee alone was enough to go through. I depended too much to it. I already lacked hours of sleep and skipped meals because of the thought that coffee was enough. I even remembered our room at that time was already full of empty bottles of coffee. Unfortunately, consuming too much of something will lead you to a harmful situation.

Drinking lots of coffee on an empty stomach causes hyperacidity. Hydrochloric acid (HCL) production is being stimulated. It became a problem to me since HCL should only be produced to digest meals. I used to skip meals a lot, and eventually suffered from hyperacidity. Drinking too much coffee will also promote the release of stress hormones cortisol, epinephrine, and norephrine. These chemicals increase your body's heart rate, blood pressure, and tension levels.

Because I was consuming too much coffee, my very own stress reliever became my own source of stress. I no longer feel comfortable everytime that I took exams. I could feel my hands shaking due to tension. I ended up lacking sleep because of too much caffeine. In order to regain my normal self back, I had to force myself to quit drinking coffee. It was hard since it was already part of my routine. I had to find a substitute to my coffee. But I found any alternative to be not effective.

Then I realized, I have been consuming coffee for years but I have only experienced these side effects when I entered college. I tried to do a research if I was gaining any health benefits after all those years of caffeine consumption. I just find it too hard to get away with coffee.

I was surprised when I found out that coffee was actually healthy. As I read through different studies, I found out that coffee is loaded with high concentrations of beneficial antioxidants, phenol nutrients, chlorogenic acids, and any other healthy compounds that can improve one's health. Just like any other goods, coffee becomes bad when you consume it improperly. One should limit drinking caffeine to 3-4 cups a day.

Eventually, I went back again to drinking coffee. I just couldn't find any alternative that will fuel me up throughout the day. But I tried to practice myself to drink coffee only on a regular amount. I learned in the end to control myself. If you need something, you must learn how to regulate it. Consuming coffee properly makes it a friend. Just like a person, it becomes a foe if you abuse it.

I stared into the empty mug held by my hands. The rain also had already stopped. Time to start the first task on my to-do-list.

Till we meet again, coffee.