I met a friend for brunch at Cafe 24 at Corinthia Marina Hotel yesterday, she was running late so I decided to order a coffee, not a green/herbal tea as I would have done just a short while ago but an actual mug of coffee. At this point, many of you might be wondering what I’m on about but ordering a coffee is still an alien concept to me. I actually still get confused about what’s what because up until around 6 months ago I NEVER drank coffee.
Before I expand on the coffee, let me just elaborate somewhat on this brunch/cafe spot because it is a true gem – it’s one of those places where you can go and take a book or a laptop and no one would ask you to leave or hurry up. The food is great, I ordered a chicken and quinoa salad and she had chilli con carne with nachos, super yummy and fresh. They also have fresh loads of deserts and homemade truffles which I forgot to take a photo of but are truly divine. Service was great too and I was served pretty quickly. There’s also free parking which was ultra-important in the perfectly grey weather. The coffee is good too and on that note – let’s get back to my relationship with coffee.
So Yes, I’ve started drinking coffee. I would love to be dramatic and say I don’t know how or when it happened but the truth is I can pinpoint the exact time. End of Malta Fashion Week 2018 – the return back to reality, to what I call ‘my job’ (as though this other thing I spend close to 50 hrs per week on isn’t a job.) It wasn’t easy swinging back into that routine, sheer tiredness and exhaustion – both physical and mental although worst of all I think, was the mental shift of focus. It was tough, I was a bit all over the place. I found solace in coffee. When things started to blur, the coffee gave me focus, renewed my energy and kept me sane.
I assumed I would stop, I mean, I don’t even like coffee. Honestly, I don’t, 300 espressos later ( from Nespresso machines, coffee shops in Italy and everywhere else) I still don’t like coffee.
I don’t believe it’s become a dependency or at least not an actual physical one. I’ve never needed help waking up and I still don’t. I barely sleep for starters and if I’ve gotten at least 5-6 hrs sleep I’m not generally tired. Can coffee become a mental dependency? I eat less when I eat coffee so maybe it’s just a replacement for when boredom or chocolate cravings hit. I also find that when the pressure feels really intense – that mug of coffee seems to quite literally sort it all out. It fires me up, makes me feel invigorated, gives me a kick yet calms me down. This is all quite irrational and is probably contributing to the fact that I’m wide awake at midnight writing away but well I’ve started drinking coffee and I see no signs of stoppage.
Who knows, maybe in 6 months I’ll be writing a brunch spot about how coffee wasn’t on the agenda and eggs were (I hate eggs).
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