Plinky Prompt: Do you need coffee to wake up in the morning?

• Coffee Is My Life
  Starbucks VIA I practically need coffee, triple strength, IV’d into my blood stream each and every morning. If I don’t feel like having coffee than I am terribly sick and need to go to the doctor, seriously. The only time I don’t want coffee is when I am ill and then I will drink tea with milk and sugar. Tea with milk and sugar for me equals illness. My husband and I use triple the amount of coffee that most people use for one mug of coffee; it’s Starbucks strength, bold, not necessarily the brand (only when we can afford it/ as a special treat) but the taste. We have used Bustello, Espresso, Melita and all kinds of coffee, the stronger it is, the better. When we travel we bring Starbucks’ Via packets along (and no, I do not work for Starbucks) to strengthen any weaker (and it’s all weaker) coffee we are served. Via packets (a brilliant invention, I might add) are singular packets of Starbucks coffee to add and strengthen whatever coffee you have ordered. Let’s face it, if you travel and you don’t know where the strong coffee is, it’s always handy to travel with Via. (I think Starbucks should compensate me for that, don’t you think?)

My Favorite Way to Start the Day

Image via Wikipedia

Once I wake up (and luckily not to a jarring alarm clock) I get out of bed, gingerly, checking out my various aches and pains and I hear my dog’s thumping tail so I go to greet her. Before I even start my ritual of a very strong cup of coffee, I sit on the green couch, and she pulls herself into my lap and I hug and kiss her. I know the exact way she likes to be stroked, she shows me where and when, she nuzzles against me. I let her out, feed her, rinse out her slimy blue water bowl and refill with fresh, cold water. It’s only after that, which is true love, that I put water in the tea kettle, put a #4 Melitta filter in my old, cracked plastic, brown coffee cone and use three heavy-handed scoops of strong, espresso coffee mixed with a dark roast. A large serving of fat- free half and half, one or two Truvia, (or Purevia) depending on the strength and wait anxiously for the tea kettle to screech. I like to have my coffee alone so I can gather my thoughts and plan for the day. I listen to the cardinals tweet outside at my bird feeder and watch the yellow finches eat breakfast. There is no better way to start my day.