Good morning all.. It is such a beautiful sunny Monday. The last Monday in 2013. Have you had your coffee this morning? I have and finished it a few minutes ago. And yes, it was black! I've been back to the habit of drinking black coffee for a few weeks and am very happy with the result.
I started to make black coffee as a part of my morning rituals since I was in high school. I used to have one cup in the morning and one cup in the afternoon, just like my parents did. The ground coffee available in the kitchen was always local made, freshly, but not finely, ground at the store at the time we bought it, which made it very fragrant. As a kid I loved to watch the roasted coffee beans slowly went down the giant grinder and wondered how the solid beans came out as powder! hehehe....
Time went by until the time when I could afford some 'branded' coffee beans myself. Yes, I still preferred to buy roasted beans and had them ground by the lady in charge. Also, I preferred Robusta to Arabica, since the latter tasted a bit sour to my tongue, though later on I got tempted to try the mixed varieties :)
I can't recall when exactly I switched the habit of having black coffee to the instant one. I just recently realized that it had been more than a decade! Maybe I was tempted by how practical it was to cut the sachet, pour the content into a little mug, add hot water, give it a stir and voila! One important thing about it is that by doing so, I had also turned myself from a coffee lover to a mere coffee drinker... :(
Now that I am over forty, I decided to take into consideration everything that goes down my throat since I started to have uneasy feeling in my stomach, especially after taking my instant coffee. Abdominal distention was the one that bothered me a lot, especially in the evening when it reached its maximum severity. And the very first thing that came to my mind was: coffee. What? Blame it on coffee? I wouldn't do that! After all I understand that there are many benefits of drinking coffee, even scientists have done numerous researches on it, and I have been enjoying the benefits for years as well.
However, since coffee was the only remaining suspect, I had to continue the investigation. In the morning, I would take some time to stare at my kitchen shelves, especially the coffee containers. I have 3 plastic containers always fully stuffed with instant coffee sachets of my favourite brands, a glass container of local ground coffee, and 2 more glass jars of instant black coffee of premium brands. After a few minutes of several days investigating, I noticed only one thing: the instant coffee in sachets all contained non-dairy creamer. Ah, yes, I like creamer in my coffee since it adds extra richness and prefer the non-dairy one since I don't tolerate lactose.
Ok, then! First, I got rid of all those sachets and put only glass containers of 'good' black coffee, ground and instant, instead. I started having black coffee in the morning and in the afternoon again and making it a habit. And when I stopped by at coffee shops I would order black coffee, no creamer at all.
The result? It's amazing! I don't have any abdominal distention anymore. It's gone! I am pleased to feel that I've had the 'refreshing sensation' of drinking coffee back again. Furthermore, I also tried to drink several varieties of ground coffee, and found that the ones with dominant sour taste don't go very well with my stomach.
So, if any of you, especially members of the club forties :) , notice that you start developing abdominal distention, grab your coffee mug and see if there's creamer in it. Who knows it may be the one to blame :)
Oh well, tonight is the New Year's eve. Please let me wish you all a happy New Year 2014. May the coming year be filled with joy, good health and good fortune...
Note: this is not a scientific article. Other variables that may influence the occurrence of the abdominal distention are not mentioned. This is merely written according to the writer's experience which she likes to share to give some insights to others. So if you have any comments or any different opinion or experience, do not hesitate to share or post it in the comment. Thank you!
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