Your Brew of Choice

by Leslie Aronson — July 17, 2008

How do you take your coffee in the morning? Black drip? Caramel latte with extra whip? Skinny half-caf latte no foam? Regardless of how high maintenance your coffee order is, you've probably developed a reliance on the stuff. It seems as though reports come out every other day touting the benefits or devilment caused by coffee, but I tend to ignore these statements and follow an "all things in moderation" common sense approach, which I may live to regret, but it has worked well thus far.

I have found, though, that drip coffee makes me crazier than espresso. By crazy, I mean jittery, fidgety, wandering attention, and overly emotional. It also makes me break out and wreaks havoc on my digestive system. Espresso, however, is much gentler on my body and doesn't make me hate life the way drip does. Of course, everyone is different and I'm only basing this on my own experience and observations after spending years behind the bar at coffee shops. And maybe you feel no need to change your coffee consumption, or the medium through which you get your caffeine boost, which is fine. But I didn't realize the effect coffee had on me till I cut it out altogether for a few weeks and then tried to go back and couldn't without bad side effects. Espresso (my drink of choice being a short americano), a few times a week - never more than once a day - has proven to be a good fit for me.