Should I drink coffee when travelling? How many cups do you drink?

Free coffee for those who have made purchases in Waitrose supermarket, Harrow, NW London, England.

Problem
Who can resist a free cup of coffee? A coffee break? Should I drink more coffee? Less coffee? Dark coffee? Light coffee? Strong coffee? Mild coffee?

Answers
I remember drinking my first cup of coffee. I didn't like it! I was sixteen, at a youth club. As a child I had drunk water. My parents would not let me drink fizzy drinks.

Avoiding and Liking Coffee
My first attempt to drink coffee was not a success. I avoided coffee for a long time. Then one day I was given coffee with milk and sugar. I was hooked.

I had to have brown sugar. I rated a restaurant on whether it could supply 'proper' coffee, with milk and brown sugar, rather than instant coffee with white sugar.

Instant Or Not?
When I went to Asia it was a surprise to find that instant coffee, served with sweetened evaporated tinned milk, was more expensive than the local coffee. I was annoyed that restaurants tried to 'palm me off' with instant coffee, which is cheaper back in Britain. When I saw the locals being served local coffee, when I had been given the unaccountably more expensive Nescafé with condensed milk, I challenged the restaurant owner to explain why.

He explained that cows were rare, milk was expensive, most people drank black coffee. Imported instant coffee was favoured by white Westerners, who were prepared to pay more for the rarity of the added milk. In the tropics milk went off quickly. So tinned milk was kept as a standby. The sugar in it kept it fresher longer. Tinned milk was a treat, and locals liked it, having got used to the sweeter taste.

Sugar In Coffee
Later, back in Britain, I went on a diet. I gave up sugar in coffee.

Finally, I went to a doctor, a GP (general practitioner) in London for a general check up. I admitted that I was not sleeping well. I got up in the night to go to the toilet . Then I felt jittery and could not get back to sleep.

Conting Cups Of Coffee
The doctor asked how many cups of coffee I drank. About five, maybe more. How come I drank so many?

I counted.
1 One for breakfast - sometimes a double or a second cup. 2.
2/3 One for elevenses (what the British call the eleven o'clock or mid-morning break - a word unknown in the USA).
3/4 Another cup after lunch, which would be my third or fourth.
4/5 Another cup at tea time, about four o'clock. That's number four.
5/6 Another after dinner. That's number five.
6/7 Sometimes another later, especially if out at a restaurant, or visiting friends, or at a club evening meeting, which makes six, sometimes seven if I'd had two cups at any time in the day.

Oh - I forgot. If I woke early, I would start the day with another cup to get me going. That would make seven or eight cups of coffee!

I was drinking between five and eight cups of caffeine-laden coffee a day. I had never counted or noticed how many. Even if I had counted, I would not have noted it as a problem.

Counting Spoons Of Sugar
If I had sugar in the coffee, I would get a boost of caffeine and sugar, then I would sink half an hour or an hour later, needing another boost, feeling jittery. Eight doses of sugar! Eight doses of caffeine! No wonder I felt exhausted and overweight.

Limiting Coffee
The doctor suggested: no more than three cups of coffee a day, and none after mid-day.
One caffeinated coffee after breakfast. One for mid-morning. A decaffeinated coffee at lunchtime, no later than 2 pm (not after a lunch finishing at 2.30, 3 pm or 3.30 or 4 such as Christmas day or Sunday or on holiday, or a delayed lunch at work.

White Teeth
I also went to my dentist for teeth whitening. I looked at the colours of food I was eating. As a child I had white teeth. I drank white milk and washed my food down with a glass of colourless water. I ate white steamed fish, white mashed potato or white chicken.

Dark Foods
My diet as an adult turned into brown curry with staining yellow in the rice and curry, red steak, brown beef casserole. I ended every meal with a dark coffee.

Dye In Clothes
I dyed clothes and noted that after an hour a dark stain would set. Salt helped the dye to set. I had been putting dark coloured foods and salt into my mouth.

Costa - my favourite because of the almond slices.

Travel
When you are travelling, often you have no choice. But many times you do have a choice.

Final thought: When I'm taking a long motorway journey I like coffee to keep me awake. However, I don't like to drink coffee just before leaving, because I will need a toilet.

You don't have to do what I did. But at least you can now consider my reasoning, and your options and your situation.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts. I have several more posts on coffee including King Coffee from Vietnam and Giuliano coffee from Italy.