Tea used to be my go-to drink. Barry’s in fact. A Barry’s teabag steeped in boiling water for just long enough to garner the perfect cup of golden tea. Lots of milk, no sugar, in a mug and not too strong.
That first gulp in the morning.
Ah bliss.
What problem has not been sorted with a cup of tea? Yes the Irish solution to all the worlds ills, is to put the kettle on and have a cup of tea.
But I’ve got a terrible confession to make. It seems that my head has been turned and I’ve been cheating on tea for quite some time now, with my new beverage of choice, the cooler, hipper, more adventurous beverage with a dark side...
Meet my new bae - Coffee.
In fact you could say, since I’ve become a mum, I’m now I’m in an unhealthy relationship with coffee.
It was something that crept up on me very slowly, until the other day I realised I’d had at least three monstrous f-off size mugs of really strong coffee… plus an on-the-go cappuccino to top it off. And the crazy part is, I would have had another cup.
Yes, I am actually drinking it by the bloody bucket load; if I could inject the stuff into my veins I probably would.
Had a bad day? Coffee.
Didn’t get enough sleep? Coffee (oh the irony of that!)
Stuck on the toddler-tantrum-merry-go-round? – Coffee.
Baby teething? – Coffee.
Up to your eyes in work? – Coffee.
Toddler drawing on the wall while wailing like a banshee? Fuck it, just have a cup of coffee and let Rome burn.
Coffee has come to punctuate my day. Whether I’m out grabbing a to-go coffee or in with my Cafeterie brewing the next batch, coffee is a constant presence. In fact, I don’t know how parents can do without coffee! How can Susan (poor Susan!) walk into a Starbucks pushing her pram and order a decaf chai latte with soy milk and look as though she’s floating on air with her perfect hair and stain free clothes, while I look like a was dragged through a hedge backwards, drooling like some kind of rabid animal until I get my caffeine fix?
Coffee is my rocket fuel, my go-to, my fall back. It’s the creamy, foamy, rich smelling, sweet tasting, elixir of the God’s I need to get through the day as a stay at home mum, who also works at home. It’s a mug of instant strength, it gets my brain working faster, it helps me focus, and it calms me down.
Or does it?
I’m starting to think I might be just a wee bit over caffeinated! On the aforementioned day of four HUGE mugs of coffee, I found myself bug-eyed in bed at stupid o’clock listening to my husband snoring, contemplating if I should smother him with a pillow or not and then I came to the realisation that maybe I needed a break from coffee…
Maybe it was time to go slinking back to the sensible, boring, reliable tea that had never done me wrong… sure it might not be the most exciting beverage in the world, it will never be that glamorous chia latte rubbish, but you know what, it’s still got the power to fix almost anything, hopefully even a coffee addiction.