One lump or two?

I Like coffee! I like tea! I like the java jive and it likes me! Coffee and tea! and the java and me! A cup- a cup- a cup-a cup- a cuppaah! Yeah!

Indeed.

As quoted by my Muva circa 1989 in the kitchen, and made immemorial by The Ink Spots (along with such classics as ‘Ya feets too big, can’t love you cuz your feets too big’- not good news for me..anyway, I digress.)

I didn’t like tea or coffee for years and years. Apart from for dipping biscuits in which, drove my Dad crazy. You know, with a rich tea when you just dip a little too long and half of it gets all soggy and drops down to the bottom of the mug making the tea a total write-off. My granny would complain that my indifference to tea made me very un-British; she’d try and bribe me into drinking it with a couple of Bakewell tarts or a French Fancy.

My brother on the other hand is one of those will-not-get-out-of-bed-unless-I’ve-had-a-cuppa-cha-preferably-earl-gray-if-you’ve-got-it types. Terrible, and something his girlfriends throughout the years have indulged him in for fear of his not-to-be-reckoned-with morning wrath. And my sister drank so much coffee it stained her teeth, which put me off it a little bit. As well as brewed coffee smelling to my juvenile nose like burnt toast, and tea to my immature tastebuds reminiscent of a mug of boiled herbs. They said I’d grow into it. I scowled.

Now though, I’m a bit obsessed. My first love was with coffee. It makes me go a little crazy but I just love it love it love it! If I drink it past about 3 O’clock in the afternoon I can not sleep for sheep. Once when driving up the M1 after a few too many refills from the old cafetiere, I got the jitters so badly I had to stop for half an hour in the lay-by thinking I was having a heart attack from the caffeine-induced palpitations. Not to worry- I’m still here. Lapping back the coffee. Lessons against having a car and drinking too much of the black stuff- see there’s a moral to this tale!

Where we work (BedZED) we are a little bit spoiled. The flying coffee man, Mo, comes to visit most days at about 11.30. Now he makes a mean cup. He makes Rachel’s day- he’s always got a twinkle in his eye when he spies her at her desk!

My ex-boyfriend reckoned it was something of a class issue- you know, do you like your hot drink as a frothy coffee and two shots of espresso, or PG tips n’ 5 sugar lumps. Perhaps he read too deeply into it, or was a bit scarred by his mates taking the micky out of him for his aspiration penchant for Costa Coffee, but I reckon even if it doesn’t denote social stratifications perhaps there’s a spot of personal interpretation to be done- personality type as favourite hot tipple.

If so… I’m a mocha choca latte ya ya!! What are you?

This entry was posted on Monday, March 19th, 2007 at 2:43 pm and is filed under People & places. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.