By Tabitha Bozeman
I love mornings. I love the light, the birds and the smell of a fresh day. I do not, however, love waking up. I am inclined to agree, if asked too early, with the person who declared “People who get up early in the morning cause war, death and famine.”
I used to be able to kickstart my day with coffee. I love coffee — the smell, taste and sounds of coffee being made. I no longer love how coffee affects my body, however. So, a while back I decided to try other morning beverages to see if anything else helps grease the wheels of consciousness. Not much does, at least not in the same way coffee does.
According to science, ice cold water is a great option. Water in a glass, flavored or unflavored, or even splashed on your face seems to be science approved. I worry about these scientists, sometimes. I can drink a glass of ice water in the morning, but it is a sad, sad replacement for the percolating, aromatic, boiling hot coffee I used to enjoy.
Science also says that just the smell of coffee — particularly ground coffee, or coffee beans — in the morning may have as much physical benefit for promoting alertness as drinking it does. So, I don’t have to completely miss the smell or sound of coffee in the mornings because my husband still drinks it.
Tea is another option. I have always enjoyed hot tea in the winter, in my office on long afternoons, on rainy days or when I am sick. It smells good, and many options are caffeinated. Black tea comes in various flavors, as does green tea. And I can listen to the kettle boil water as a replacement for the coffee pot. It’s a decent swap, I suppose, but it just isn’t the same as a morning cup of coffee.
Here in town, there are so many delicious options for morning coffee. The local Jack’s, The Coffee Bar, Union Jack, Viva Coffee, Jolt — the list goes on. I love walking into a coffee shop and smelling the coffee and scones. It is one of my favorite places to sit and work or chat with friends. Because I cannot have coffee, I miss those morning coffee stops.
I’ve tried iced coffee, homemade matcha frappes, smoothies, juice, soda and more. I’ve tried reintroducing coffee into my mornings, and it went poorly. I’ve tried a homemade coffee-tea hybrid that was ok. I’ve researched a mushroom “tea” blend that I feel should just be called “soup” or “broth.” (Who wants to start their morning with soup?)
More recently, I’ve tried the “iced coffee” flavors in my Cirkul water bottle — this, so far, has been the best option for me early in the morning. It is water, so my body is not immediately angry I’ve ingested it, it’s cold, so science is happy, it tastes like iced coffee (a slightly watered down, “I forgot I had a cup of iced coffee” version), and it is caffeinated.
It will do for now — at least until I have figured out a way to enjoy my morning coffee once more, and can again say, like T.S. Eliot’s Prufrock, that I “measure my days in coffee spoons.”