Friday, August 28, 2009

C6H10N402

I have a fairly severe addiction. To the above mentioned substance. While I don’t abuse the substance per se, I definitely do need a fix on a diurnal basis. As BigGeek and Chip have learned through hard and nasty experience, its best to stay a few arm lengths away until I have imbibed my daily quota and my brain cells have all been sorted out nicely.
This morning as I drove to work, my head ached, my feet tapped themselves. Thank god there was no traffic, I would not have hesitated to run people over. Just kidding. Or not.

Withdrawl looks like this and does not feel good at all.

I went into my cube, fished out my bag and counted dimes and nickels and pennies. I needed $1.60. I found it, ran back down and entered the cafeteria.

Oh! Blessed Caffeine.

Here I am now, bright and chirpy, having downed 16 oz of the finest Columbian that has made its way here through Seattle. My brain can finally get down to work, and people around me are safe. I am fairly tame when I am well caffeinated.

I have been drinking coffee ever since I remember. No, seriously. My mother, many decades ago, weighed the cons of coffee to the pros of milk and decided there was absolutely no harm in stirring a small teaspoon of NesCafe into my morning milk. Which was the only way I drank it. And wait, before you roll your eyes at me, my mom prior to the NesCafe, would try and stir malt-extract-with-fish-oil into my milk.

Anyone remember what it was called? Gluta-something. Blech. Tar tastes better. I still carry emotional scars of the Gluta-something days. After that, I refused to drink milk. My mother claims I refused to drink milk way before that and that Gluta-something was a way to improve its taste (what was she thinking?) and get the additional nutrients into the skinny-minny that I was (I am not any more; I wish I were, but am so not).

So, after going down the rungs by trying to get me to drink Horlicks (yuck), Complan (still yuck, it should be named Complain, not Complan), Bournvita (not bad, but still a bit yuck), she finally settled down on Nescafe. Which sowed the seeds of my addiction.

I try and wriggle my way out of staying overnight in households where they don’t worship the altar of caffeine. Or at least brew a good cup every morning. My dad makes a mean cuppa of filter coffee and my mother-in-law is kindly disposed to it as well. She drinks Bru – which is not bad at all and she whips it up to a nice froth.

In our household, we are a bit snobbish. Beans are carefully selected. We are partial to Colombian. Freshly ground every morning and then brewed with two unbleached filters into a thermally-insulated carafe. Not the hotplate ones – they burn the coffee. Any variations in the quality of water (yes), coffee or filters is met with pouring the brew down the drain, intense cursing, severe withdrawal and re-brewing.

Which is what happened this morning. BigGeek half made the coffee. He rinsed the carafe, and poured water and left it at that. When I came down, I rinsed the carafe, filled the water, ground the beans and brewed. The resulting brew would have put dishwater to shame. It was dilute and BigGeek had used “smelly” water and so I had to throw it out (or water my plants with it). There was no time to re-brew which is how this post started.

20 comments:

Yet Another Mother Runner said...

yes, same with us too...no messing with the morning cuppa!! can't even be a degree less than what i like!! Pup brews the best coffee (after my mom ;)

but mez lovez complan (esply the new kesar elaichi flavor) and horlicks and all that...(i dont add extra sugar of course)...but i just love the taste!!

Mamma mia! Me a mamma? said...

I hear you, I hear you!!

God bless caffeine!

Mamma mia! Me a mamma? said...

I hear you, I hear you!!

God bless caffeine!

Anonymous said...

We are chai drinkers. The freshly pounded ginger with Red label chai. You would hate my house. No beans whatsoever..

DotThoughts said...

gnd: BG likes horlicks!

m4: sistah!

asaan: i love ginger tea, but it doesn't help with withdrawl :) don't worry, i'll being my own :D

Cee Kay said...

LOL! Now I know to run out and get a coffee-maker, carafe, Columbian beans and coffee grinder when you visit me.

I am this particular about my tea :) I don't drink tea at anyone's house or even at coffee/tea-shops except at two close friends' place. And Behenaaaaaaaaaa at Nescafe in my milk. I still drink my milk that way.

Jira said...

ha ha ha...I had to have a few drops of coffee added in my horlicks too!!!! Thats the only way I could drink it!

Anonymous said...

Your mom never attempted boost, is it? It worked fine on me until I got to college - now it's all down to caffeine. God bless it!

Trish said...

Ohhh I love my cuppa too..I am ready to bite off heads,if i miss my morning n afternoon chai..or coffee..I go thru phases..of chai or Coffee..

DotThoughts said...

gtn: lol. do not worry. i shall BMOB(eans) ;-)

jira: now you are talking!!

vigneshvn: Oh she did! I missed that one.

Trish: blessed caffeine!

Sujata said...

I feel your withdrawl. I would feel the same. Very well written post.

Shobana said...

Hear u! I am not much of a coffee drinker but when I do, I want it just right!

dipali said...

I miss my tea, once in a while. Love coffee, but drink it rarely:(
Addicted, but to a much lower dose of caffeine!

Usha said...

Oh ya, I know all about how that feels - only it is tea for me.

And that is a shame because I come from a line of people who are so fussy about their coffee that in one of the marriages a silver pot of coffee came rolling down the stairs as the coffee did not meet the standards of the groom's mom!! (No, it wasn't me!it was 50 years ago)

noon said...

Hey Dottie - I enjoy hearing about the coffee fuss that different households have every morning...my friend and her husband too have done extensive research and come to some conclusion as to what kind of coffee they like...we used to be that way. Somehow when I became pregnant I stopped coffee and since then I rarely enjoy coffee. I still like it when the coffee is really good...reading your post makes me want to taste it. Can you post a picture of this contraption?! Hey - what new cakes have you baked? In this new house, we seem to have a good oven - I am hoping to make your eggless cake for my friend's son who is allergic to cake - wish me luck and yes, do nudge me to actually do it rather than chicken out! I should have just emailed you instead of write a letter in my comment!

Rohini said...

C6H10N402??? :D

I am left wondering who the BigGeek in your house is ;)

rayshma said...

god bless the person who came up with coffee. really.
wonder what i'd do without it too...

DotThoughts said...

suj: thanks!

Shobana: :)

dipali: caffiene is caffiene :)

Usha: someone knocked over a coffee pot!!! *gulp* while I won't knoeck it down today, I would prolly sneak into the nearest starbucks :)

noon: no contraption.. just a cusinart coffeemaker - it has a built in water filter and a thermal carafe. do do do bake the cake. your friend's son will be very happy! And post pics!

Ro - the post was spurred because BigGeek sent me the following email one day-
And why did you brew but not drink the C6H10N402?
Now, who is the geek, again? :)

raysh: totally!

Mama - Mia said...

ooh yess! i mean i dont take that much effort for mine, but a bad cup is a verrry bad start to the day!!

thanks for the smiles! ;)

Nagesh.MVS said...

OHHHHHH YES..

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