When I met coffee, I wouldn’t say it was love at first sip. It took me many months of getting to know coffee before acquiring a taste for it. However, after acquiring a taste for the bitter robust beverage I became completely enraptured. Beginning every morning with a steaming cup, study medicine, pumpkin spice lattes in autumn, cold brew in the summer, coffee dates, working as a barista for many years, even studying it and doing extensive research on the commodity for a Terroir course I took my Junior year of college. Coffee became a staple in my day-to-day lifestyle and became engrained into my idendity. However, throughout the years my relationship with coffee became… complicated. Feeling intensely addicted to getting my fix of caffeine in the morning, and having intense physical and physiological side effects. I would down an entire french press each morning before heading to class or work, and then feel extremely anxious and jittery throughout the day. Also being enrolled in a course where I was constantly confronting how our consumption of the luxury commodity is part of the capitalist market that is inherently laced with exploitation, it’s hard to not feel guilty when trying to enjoy a cup of jo. I felt coffee and my’s relationship becoming toxic and taking a break from one another would be good for the both of us.
During the first tea tasting lab with Kotomi, I decided to substitute my morning coffee with tea and see how this might affect me. Giving up coffee cold turkey was difficult at first. I craved the stuff throughout the day, breathed a little deeper when my roommates were brewing their daily batch and found myself aimlessly browsing the coffee section in the grocery store as if I was deciding whether or not it was really worth it. Despite my cravings I immediately noticed I wasn’t as anxious, I didn’t feel so depleted mid-day and the surprise benefit of my skin clearing up! I decided to really commit to taking some time to detox coffee for the remainder of the quarter, even getting rid of my coffee infused exfoliant body wash. As we enter into the final week of the quarter, a week where I have historically binged in coffee, I am upping my tea game and enjoying every cup. I have discovered so many teas and tea blends that I feel have been very beneficial for my physical and mental health. My relationship with tea is flourishing and I no longer have intense cravings for coffee. There are moments where I reminisce the old times I’ve spent with coffee, or romanticizing the very esthetic of it, but I am completely content with my love affair with tea and think it is just the beginning of a long and healthy relationship.
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