Coffee: you've won, damn you!

OK, as of 2 weeks ago, I officially gave in to one of my long-standing enemies: coffee.

For years, I fought the addiction. In college I would only drink coffee when I had to pull an all-nighter, and then I'd only need like 16 oz to keep me wired for 18 hours straight (since I never really drank pop or other caffeinated bevvies, coffee easily affected me). I was determined to be my own man... I didn't want to submit to coffee's siren lure, and be like everyone else on the planet: useless and cranky without a cuppa joe.

But... over the last few years of work, I'd slowly started to give in... a cup here to perk me up, a cup there as an excuse to socialize with co-workers. Usually, I'd order chai lattes in lieu of the demon brew, but the occasional mocha would slip in.

A year or 2 ago, I started to order cappucinos after dinner out at a nice restaurant. It seemed like a great companion to a slice of chocolate cake, or some palate-cleansing sorbet. I didn't realize that coffee's strategy had changed from the standard brute-force morning assault to this more insidious evening ploy.

But coffee was smart. With the occasional morning drink, and the ever-more-frequent daytime socialization cup, and the increasingly common after dinner cappucino treat, coffee was slowly insinuating itself into my life. A few weeks ago, it finally struck me: I've become a regular coffee drinker.

I swear I have no idea when I crossed that threshhold from casual user to regular abuser. Maybe it was when I started relying on coffee to help me stay awake at work in the mornings. Maybe it's when I read that 8 cups a day doesn't actually raise your blood pressure. Or maybe it was when I bought that grinder and french press for my house (better than a drip brewer; but I swear I bought them for guests to use!).

But once the realization hit, it was like a giant weight had lifted from my shoulders. The decades-long struggle was over... and I had lost. I feel a small sadness that I've conceded defeat... but as I sit here drinking a home-made mocha brewed in my Bosum french press, with beans I bought from Peet's... I'm really not sure I care.