How I Became a Coffee Drinker

  It all began when I was a child. Seriously. It did. I am directly descended from someone who hopped off the boat from England. While my parents were never big on coffee or tea, my very British grandmother and great grandmother were heavier drinkers. The difference between my grandmother and great grandmother was that it would not be unheard of for grandma to throw in an extra nip of something, usually alcohol based.

  Back in the 1970's many households were drinking something called "instant coffee." I think instant coffee is great for recipes but not for daily consumption. I would ask for what grandma and grandpa were drinking because, like any six year old, I wanted to be just like them at breakfast. My grandmother would fix me something that was more akin to New England coffee milk. I only imbibed the nectar of life occasionally, so it did not have much of an effect on my youth. 

  I did enjoy tea. I would help my grandmother bring it to my great grandma in the mornings when she was getting out of bed. "A spot of tea" was not unusual growing up and I enjoyed it into my adolescence. 

  I spent many years, between the ages of 12-19, never touching a drop of coffee. 

  Then, my sophomore year of college, the Physics Dept. at UMass-Dartmouth, created a study room just for undergraduate majors to hang out, study, and have access to professors nearby. It had a chalkboard, rows and rows of books and periodicals, and a coffee maker. When you are an undergrad studying Science, Math, and Engineering material, you slowly realize that you need caffeine. Lots of it. From there, my love of the bean grew into an ever-present obsession. 

  How did your obsession begin?