I made several attempts to start in high school (starting around age 14 or 15 or so… or maybe as early as 12 or 13? can’t remember exactly). But my father was the only other coffee drinker in our household, and the only thing he drank (IOW, the only coffee available to me) was shudder Folgers, black, so I was convinced for a long time that coffee was just disgusting. It was the tail end of my senior year (age 17) before a friend came back from a mission trip in Venezuela, bringing with her coffee that wasn’t cheap-ass crap and burned to a crisp, along with the recipe for “cafe con leche” which introduced me to the idea that coffee could be made sweet and creamy, too. I then used that to partially compensate for the burned-bitter-Folgers taste, at least enough that I could palate it.
The coffee at college wasn’t great, but it was better than Folgers, so my coffee-drinking really took off there. I also had greater access to coffee shops, which helped significantly.
I have never had a problem with my daughter drinking too much coffee. She doesn’t usually want a second cup. I do limit her and my soda intake to about 1 a month or so and then it is usually un-caffeinated root beer. I don’t let her have much juice either. I am not a big fan of lots of liquid calories.
At age 19, after about a year as a cook in the Army, and I started during a field exercise on ‘cowboy coffee’ with lots of sugar. I drank a lot of bad coffee from vending machines at the college I attended after the Army.
I still take my coffee black with about 3 or 4 envelopes of sugar per cup.
I realy don’t like the East African beans; too bitter and bright. I’m partial to Pacific rim coffees, especially Sumatran. Kopi Bali was really a treat for me; they grind the beans very fine and leave them in the pot, so the last cup is about half coffee-bean sludge that gives you the jitters. Really sharpens you up for a day surfing, bicycling or hiking.
I’ve been drinking coffee for as long as I’ve been able to hold a cup on my own. My mom used to give us kids “cafe con leche” - hot milk with instant coffee and sugar. I just asked my sister and she says she remembers this also. We weren’t allowed to drink regular coffee until our teens. I didn’t drink much coffee until I started college. Some of my friends worked at the campus coffee place and I would always buy a cup or two just so I could hang out and talk to them without their boss getting on their case. Soon a good chunk of my financial aid money went to that place, and later to the other one that opened across campus. To this day I prefer my coffee with cream and sugar. I have to have a cup every morning, especially at work. I like to stop at Starbucks or Kelly’s (preferably Kelly’s) in the evening for the occasional latte, but mostly I drink green tea at night.
Oddly enough, my sister and I don’t let our kids drink coffee regularly. The Diva enjoys a Frappucino once in a while, but her mom won’t allow it on a daily basis. The Princess wants to drink Frappucinos like her cousin, but I only let her have a decaf one once a month or so. One day when she was 3, my youngest sister (not Diva’s mom) was having a cup of coffee with lots of sugar and milk while doing something else, and didn’t notice the Princess was around until a little voice piped up, “Mmm, good hot chocolate! Can I have some more?” and the Princess held up the now-empty cup, her face adorned with a frothy milk mustache. :eek:
I remember trying it as a kid, it wasn’t considered a big deal, and I drank hot tea as a little girl, when I was 15 or 16 I went on a trip , and for some reason, I just got hooked. The next time after that when we went to see my Papaw and Grammy, she asked "who wants coffee? and I said “I do!’ So, you want a cup of coffee? well, I guess you’re all grown up now” she then went and selected a special mug for me to use at her house. I took it home with me when she died.
I really miss my Grammy. She always made me feel special.
My mother is a coffee addict, and I know I was allowed to taste it a a kid, but I didn’t like it then. However, once I had my first 5 am shift waiting tables in a diner while in college, I gave it another chance. The only other waitress working was an older lady my mom’s age, and she was SHOCKED when she poured a cup for each of us before we opened and I said I didn’t like coffee. She told me that if I kept getting early shifts I was going to have to learn to like it. She put some cream & sugar in mine (my Mom only drank it black) and handed it to me. I tried a sip, and it was like HEAVEN. I drank quite a few cups that morning and never looked back.
Now it’s many years later and I’m trying to figure out how to open a coffee shop when I finish school (I quit college later that semester when I was still waitressing, but the coffee is unrelated.) I love coffee and genuinely feel SORRY for the people that order the frou-frou blended coffee drinks because they don’t like the taste of coffee. I know it’s just a matter of taste, but I always feel like asking them if they’ve TRIED regular coffee - not Starbucks’ burnt stuff, but real coffee. It’s just so GOOD!
I guess I “drank” it when I was a kid, maybe 10 years old. My parents would have guests and I’d do the whole half milk/half sugar/half coffee routine (even at an early age, I defied the laws of mathematics).
It was vile. I hated it. I simply couldn’t understand the appeal.
Then in high school, I had friends who drank a pot of coffee a day. They’d bring a 24 ounce thermos to school to start with and grab more in the evening. Being completely wired was just a way of life. So hanging out with them, I pretty much couldn’t say no. (Nancy Reagan, eat your heart out).
My progression in the coffee world went like this: I started off with mochas or cappacinnos loaded down with Equal. In time, I moved over to coffee but I’d put both milk and about two packets of Equal into it, despite the mocking of my friends.
By college, I was hooked. I’d buy my own beans to brew at home and I eventually got rid of the “milk,” portion of the drink.
By grad school I’d gotten rid of the Equals as well. Now it’s just black. That’s the only way i’ll take it.
I also have about a thousand coffee aparati around my house. Espresso machines, french presses, scales to weigh the beans, a Burr grinder to ensure maximum consistency.
I have no idea when it dawned on my, but, I slowly discovered from middle school to now is that I never did hate coffee. What i hated was crap coffee. I still do. No matter how much I want the caffiene, I simply cannot down a cup of Mickey D’s swill or that freeze dried poop that comes in Folger’s tins. Call me a snob if you want. I know I am. But I like a good cup of coffee.
And writing all this makes me realize I didn’t have time to make anything today. So I’ll be trudging five blocks to grab myself a cup. Right now.
I always liked coffee. I don’t know when my first cup was, but I started drinking it black around 13. My older brother used to take me out with him and his friends, and afterwards we would head to Denny’s where I learned that I didn’t have to mess with coffee to enjoy it.
edit: Now I rarely have coffee because it makes me sweat like crazy.
I love the smell of coffee brewin in the morning! Every since I was a young’n as far back as 6 or 7. I remember my first taste… ewwwwww! how can something that smells so good taste like crap???
I tried it again when I was in my early/mid 30’s… of course it was a Starbuck’s frap loaded with all sorts of goodies (and calories). From there I went to flavored coffee and now I can drink fresh brewed at home goodness with flavored cream. Still cant drink the stuff plain.
I was always told coffee was not good for young kids - and this was before the loaded flavored coffees that are so common today. However, my SO gives his kids (as young as 9) cream & coffee when he makes it and they ask. Yes, I cringe, but only because the youngest has asthma and allergies and I read that coffee can trigger an attack. But, I really need the straight dope on that.
I discovered the glory of coffee the morning after I discovered the wonderful nectar that is alcohol. To balance the karma, the powers that be introduced me to the pains of binge drinking somewhere in the middle.
I was 14. (Born in '88, if anyone’s keeping count.)
Twice while in college I had friends try to ‘teach’ me how to drink it. One said, ‘don’t put any of that crap in there. Coffee is meant to be black. Put anything else in it and it’s no longer coffee.’ It always left a bleech flavor in my mouth, and I didn’t like the burn smell it put in my stomach. (I know, mixing senses, but that’s what I felt.)
Another friend tried to teach me how to mix the different flavors of creamers with the coffee blends. Still didn’t like it. Now it was just flavored bleech.
Even after all the years in the army, I still never acquired a taste for it. If I wanted a boost, I would reach for a soda. I even used to keep a 2L bottle in the car at all times for a quick shot. Even so, it takes a lot of caffeine to take effect. The thing I used to go for was more like ‘keep your bladder near full so you might pee any minute’.
Nowadays, I am trying to cut out all the sugar and high fructose corn syrup. I mostly stick to tea. Consider it posh if you must, but at least I can drink a lot of that and not worry too much.
Also, I can’t stand the smell of the vile stuff. I hate walking by a Starbucks in the mall or any other place. Even avoid going down the ‘grind your own beans’ aisle in the grocery store.
Me too (same shift, though it was a grocery store and not a bakery). I discovered the joys of staying out until 2am and caffeine was my only salvation.
I used to seriously kill my coffee with sugar and cream because I couldn’t stand the taste.
I started drinking coffee when I was about 11. That would be 1969. My parents and grandparents drank it, so I thought I should. It was awful at first. Especially since it came from a peculator.
I don’t drink it much now. However, I’m surprised at how many people first starting drinking it as adults and continued to do so. Taste develops over time and it would seem to me that an adult would take a drink, spit it out, and never have another.
