Costa RicaCosta Rica

My First Cup of Coffee

Destination: Nosara

They say "you'll always remember your first." - that "you'll have fond recollection of the warm and satisfying moment when you finally lose your virginity."

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Coffee virginity, that is!

For 20 years I have lived as a coffee slacker. In the occasional mega-sugared Starbucks Frappuccino, sure — but never a full cup. I could not get past the smell to give it a swig. It never really appealed to me, that whole "I can't function if I don't have coffee in the morning" bit, it just ticked me off.

Everything changed one afternoon hiking along the rocky shoreline of Garza Bay. I was losing the beach as the tide grew higher, without a rain jacket, carrying my camera and phone and suddenly it started pouring rain.

Soaking wet, my body was asking for something so it would not internally combust. For some reason that day, I dropped my hesitation and let the Italian Hotel owner make me an espresso. "What better way to calm my clenched nerves than drinking a stimulant like coffee? I asked myself “Does a small espresso count as a first full cup?"

After I finished that experimental mini-cup of compressed caffeine, my body and brain wanted to fast forward to the following morning — knowing that was when coffee would come next. That espresso was a gateway drug to the world of drinkable roasted coffee beans that would soon plague my brain on a semi-daily basis.

The following morning a strong lusting for a cup of coffee woke me up, a new feeling for me. I bolted straight downstairs to the hotel lobby and asked the young man working to pour me a mugful - Mug? Cup? Glass? Drink? I still was not sure I wanted to imbibe the caffeine inside of the cup.

Jittering with excitement, as the hazy gray morning sky was slowly revealing the sun I started to consider my whole life ahead of me, wondering if I'd be addicted to coffee and become one of those crazy 10-cup-a-day people.

First, I smelled the aroma and then sipped it. I felt my skin growing warmer and my soul buzzing with energy – the tempting tingle coffee connoisseurs always talk about. Welcome to the Club – I told myself.

Since my first espresso, three weeks ago, my mornings begins with that coffee buzz. I am not proclaiming I'm on the fast track to coffee addiction - I'm just saying that I'm on the fast track to obsession.

My First Cup of Coffee in Pictures

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