To many people, caffeine is fuel. It's needed to wake up in the mornings, needed to get through the day, needed to cope. It's part of the daily ritual for many and it's probably the most heavily consumed legal drug in North America. Did you ever wonder why or how coffee works to perk you up? Click here to find out, you might be surprised.
It's highly addictive and comes in many forms. Coffee, caffeinated beverages that taste like soda, food, tea, chocolate.
I'm by no means a frequent consumer of caffeine since drip brewed coffee severely upsets my stomach and as a child chocolate did the same so I grew up not consuming much. I instead defer to tea and the occasional espresso (I love the smell and taste of a well roasted bean). Usually, I would find myself consuming a cup of caffeinated tea a few times a week with the herbal stuff in between. Now I'm 30 and I've noticed that instead of having a decaf small coffee only once or twice a month I'm having a cup almost weekly, sometimes even two cups!
It started in my mid twenties when the Starbucks Green Tea Latte pulled me in. I've always enjoyed green tea, green tea ice cream, green tea chocolates, etc. and after one go at it the Green Tea Latte (soy) ensnared me in it's warm, velvety, slightly bitter cup. In hot weather I enjoy the Green Tea Frappuccino. Equally delicious but cool and sweet. I consumed at least one latte or Frappuccino a week for about 5 years. Sometimes I'd even have 3 a week plus regular tea I brewed at home or at work. That's got to be something like 100mg of caffeine during those days. Yikes!
This morning I find myself sipping an Americano I brewed at the office with the Nespresso Lungo pod and I loved it! (It upset my stomach about an hour later)
I wonder how long it'll be before I find myself on the caffeine addiction band wagon?
Recipe - Lungo Coffee (my tastes)
1 or two shots of espresso
double amount of hot water
To assemble - Pour hot water over the shots of espresso. If you pour the espresso into the water instead, it's called a Long Black.
