On The Bright Side

by Kay Hafner

"Let's get together for coffee."

Until a few years ago, I didn't hear those words much. I grew up in a coffee-drinking household, but never acquired a taste for the stuff. I recall being coaxed to drink some once, when I was about 16. The cup set before me was mostly milk and sugar, with some coffee added for flavor. Although the conventional wisdom was that I would eventually learn to like it, I wasn't convinced.

From about that time, through college and onward, I began to drink a lot of diet sodas morning, noon and night. While some people blanch at the idea of drinking a cold, carbonated beverage first thing in the morning, one advantage is that it takes even less time to pop open a bottle of soda than to fix a pot of coffee. This is especially helpful when you are running late, as I frequently tend to be in my life. I've also found that a slowly warming bottle of soda lasts me a lot longer than a rapidly cooling cup of coffee, especially if I'm not within the vicinity of a microwave oven.

Like many non-java drinkers, I've always loved the smell of coffee. Walking into a gourmet coffee shop has always been a sort of aromatherapy experience for me. It was such a strangely comforting, earthy, almost primal smell, like fresh-baked bread or the fresh-mowed grass. I just wished that it tasted like it smelled.

My coffee conversion came about seven years ago when I started to attend some quarterly dinner meetings with my sister-in-law and weekly luncheon meetings with my husband. These gatherings didn't seem to be the right place for something so light, fun and, well . . . youthful, as soda. Water and coffee seemed to be the main beverages served, with occasional requests for hot tea. Since I wanted to be sociable, part of the crowd and, well ... mature so I decided to give the coffee a try. I skipped the sugar and went with a touch of cream. It didn't take long before I was pouring seconds.

Of course, this was when a lot of people were giving up caffeine, or at least going for decaf coffee and caffeine-free sodas. Especially at the evening meetings, it wasn't a problem for me to have multiple refills from one carafe set out for a table of eight. Once I realized I liked the taste, I enjoyed having more. I waved off the decaf pots largely because I figured if I was going to at last have it, I would enjoy all the benefits that "full strength" coffee provided. Now that I was a full-fledged member of the coffee club, I didn't want to miss a thing.

In school drug awareness programs, children are now taught that caffeine is as much of a drug as nicotine or alcohol, or any of the illegal "hard" drugs. It's true that when I drink coffee I'm anticipating that extra little zing that caffeine provides, but drinking coffee just for the caffeine rush is like swimming just for the exercise. If you don't like getting wet, don't get enjoy the challenge of the water's resistance against your arms, don't find the buoyancy and the fluidity the least bit playful, then why bother? If you pour a big mug of coffee and cringe with each mouthful, you're better off cozying up to a two-liter bottle of Jolt.

I go in spurts with my regular coffee drinking. Right now I am once again favoring diet sodas. The weather does play a part in it: a steaming cup of Joe warms up a winter morning a lot better than popping open a cool can of cola. I haven't really tried any of the iced coffees that are on the market today, though. I still have bad memories of opening our refrigerator at home on more than one hot summer day and grabbing what I thought was a cold glass of soda only to realize it was that morning's leftover coffee kept on ice for mom's refreshment later.

"Let's get together for coffee." It's now a pleasant invitation that I readily accept whenever offered. As much as I enjoy some of the gourmet variations that are out there, I've so far steered clear of the lotta lattes and expresso espressos. I like my coffee like I like my friends: simple and uncomplicated, dependable and strong, with warmth and strength and good taste.