To Caffeinate or Not, That Is the Question

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To Caffeinate or Not, That Is the Question

I don’t drink coffee. I never have.

I’m the mother of four young children who on average begin to sleep through the night consistently at age four. I’m also a writer.

I repeat. I don’t drink coffee.

My Facebook feed is littered with memes like this:

And this:

I joked recently that I feared someone would snatch back my book from its virtual self when it was discovered it was created without even a half-ounce of coffee.

In college, I completed a radio station morning show internship that required me to be at the radio station at 5:30 a.m. – I think. The memory is a little fuzzy. Probably because I did not drink coffee. On days when we broadcasted from a remote location, for example, a bar where we hosted special guest John Wayne Bobbit (yes, that John Wayne Bobbit, sad but true), it was even earlier.

I tend to be a night owl. Left to my own devices, I’d routinely stay up until midnight or later. Oh, wait. I do stay up that late. Maybe later if I’m reading a good book.

And yet, no coffee. My hot drink of choice is herbal tea.

I have no medical, social, or other reason for avoiding coffee. I simply don’t like the taste. For his own amusement, I suspect, my husband sometimes offers me a taste. He drinks his strong and black. I wrinkle my nose and stick out my tongue.

Current thinking holds that drinking coffee may be good for your health, and I suspect I could acquire a taste for it. (Although a woman told me this weekend she tried over the course of a year and gained only misery for it. She never could learn to like the taste and remains an herbal tea drinker.)

I’ve been especially tired lately, mostly due to minor illness but also due to kids who won’t sleep. Maybe coffee is the boost I need. Maybe not.

Caffeine has never had a discernible effect on me. Then again, I’ve only had limited doses in Coca-Cola or Mountain Dew.