I’ve always been a sipper of soft drinks. Especially when I’m working on a project, I like to have a can, or better yet a massive paper cup (half-filled with ice) of soda to sip at as I go. Something about this just works for me. I’m happier, and more productive.

Some years ago, I had to switch from the hard stuff to the diet drinks. It was a bit of a wrench, but I got over it. After all, it was really the caffeine I was after, not the sugar. But over the past year I decided that things had gotten out of hand. I’ve heard reports that the artificial sweeteners aren’t good for you in various ways; I’ve heard stories about impaired mental function (which scares me to death) and also that the sweetness alone can help you to put on weight (which might simply kill me). So I’ve been trying to cut way back on my daily consumption of diet soda.

Cutting caffeine out of my diet, on the other hand, is a no-go. Among other things, if you’re out to eat and you don’t want sugar and you don’t want diet sweetener and you don’t want caffeine, you’re stuck with alcohol or water…and I get so tired of water.

So over the last year I’ve started drinking coffee. Plain, black coffee. (Yes, I’m sure it tastes better with sugar and cream and hazelnut syrup and what all, but I’m not going there.) I never used to drink coffee; most people pick it up in college, but I never did. Almost five decades on this earth, and I never started drinking coffee. But now I have; two cups a day, sometimes three, with water in between, and the very occasional soda. And I’ve discovered something I’d never understood before.

As I said above, I like to have a drink to sip while I’m working. A 32-ounce cup of Coke Zero (half ice) will last for a couple of hours that way, which is lovely. I’ve tried the same with coffee, but coffee gets cold. Once it’s in the cup, you’ve got a limited time to enjoy it. You can stretch that by using a travel mug with a lid, which I do sometimes. But if you use a regular ceramic mug, you’ve got a fairly short window.

And therein comes the pleasure, a pleasure I’m sure many of you are well-acquainted with, the simple pleasure of sitting and drinking a cup of coffee. You can’t drink it quickly, because it’s too hot. You have to sip it. On the other hand, you need to keep at it, or it will get cold. It’s not simply something to sip at mindlessly while you’re working; it’s an activity in itself. And while you’re drinking it, you can chat, or ponder, or read a little something…but you’re not drinking coffee while doing so, rather you’re doing so while drinking your coffee. It’s a little moment out of the day, a way to stop and rest, a break with a natural time limit. When the coffee’s gone, you move on.

What a pleasant thing!

(Yeah, OK, so I’m a little slow. You can all laugh at me now. 🙂