Kicked by a Caffeine

When I was in grade school, coffee was already an element of our banquet table. It wasn’t just a breakfast infusion, instead a ‘soup for all seasons’ – be it lunch or dinner.

Guess I’m a chip off the old block in this facet as my father would pour coffee over our rice (yeah, like what a soup does) … and so that custom was unbroken till I moved overseas … God knows how many cups I have already consumed to-date!

Two years after completing my university degree, I acquired my independence in another Philippine region – 160 nautical miles away from home. Being young and agile, my obtained attributes from my circle of influence were, one way or another, packed and carried along with me as I voyaged.

Certainly alienating on unfamiliar soil, I thought those insignificant others were different from me - only to realize I was a minority, hence I was the one ‘distinctive’. Several instances I had it on my plate unconsciously in parties – while a ‘culture shock’ could be seen on people’s faces trying to figure out from which ethnic group had I hailed from (well that’s only a coffee, I suppose).

The ERA when coffee shops sounded foreign to us – when coffee machines were unfamiliar to us – when coffee goblets weren’t part of business meetings, as opposed to what they are deemed today … I’d already found pleasure in coffee on my dreadful and supreme moments.

In the present day, any coffee is already a household name … and has marked its super power as everything gets better with it (for me). I no longer practice what I inherited from my father, but my love for all brewed drinks wouldn’t falter.

Let me have my meal … and a coffee on the side.