Coffee Drinking Spree: The Experience of Drinking Coffee as an Adult

It's the time of the year in the Filipino-Chinese community wherein they do this tours exclusively for Filipino-Chinese to mingle, make friends and hoping that the one for you is there. I mean that's what I remember from the first time I attended their tour where one of the friends I invited on the inaugural trip asked one of the fellow participants out on a date (but unfortunately it only lasts past one date)

Last year I wasn't able to join them as their trip overlapped to my trip in Toronto. So this year, I have zero plans on going out of the country. I think the last time I intentionally planned was my Canada trip, but other than that it's more of I was dragged to join by people or a family or the company will sponsor the trip. So this year this same organizer decided to travel to Vietnam. Oh, there's no fuel price increase involved yet when they announced it. My mind was like okay I know it's somehow affordable, but aside from Korea, Vietnam is also one of the countries where somebody would have to drag my feet at will or maybe somebody will be willing to pay it for free in order for me to go there. I know Vietnam has been the talk of town. Even my sister-in-law wanted them to have their honeymoon there with my brother.

The problem: Food. I don't like beansprouts and I don't drink coffee (which is their specialty), but yes I still eat coffee jelly and mocha cake if those count as coffee. My pho experience in the Philippines was so unpleasant before because who knows if the people there would include beansprouts on the Pho by default like some restaurants. Then when I ate at Pho Hoa, I saw that they separated the beansprouts from the pho. I was like Thank God! I mean I would still eat the beansprouts because it would be a waste if it isn't it's just that that time my friend love those so I happily gave it to her as I don't need to suffer the dread of eating beansprouts. Same when I was in Canada where my relatives there were so into pho that I end up "violating" my Lenten sacrifice of not eating meat since beef is their specialty and it would probably be the last time I would go there (or if I could it would take an eternity) of course I'm glad that they also separated it that my cousin maybe got weirded out on why I started to eat those raw before eating pho. I said I don't like beansprouts so I ate it first. At least I have an idea that some restaurants serve them separately, but of course gambling in a foreign country is a different story.

As for the coffee, I know I have a bad experience about it since there is one time when I'm 13 years old where everybody who would join the perennial study tour in China would have to attend their breakfast before our trip to China. They only serve us coffee and I'm probably too shy to ask for water to drink. When I tasted the coffee, I didn't like the taste (I guess that's obvious when you're young and you associate coffee as for old people and kids are for sweets). So I grew up not drinking coffee.

So the dilemma, there is money, it's affordable, but I guess my trauma from the mandatory shops didn't make me at ease because that last time you want to do is to spend an unnecessary amount of money on the things that you don't want to avail in the first place. I mean if it's affordable, there's a high chance that a mandatory shop is involved - which is expected given that it's actually better for the organizers to have a tour instead of doing DIY.

What I initially did was to send the sample itinerary to the people who I knew already went to Vietnam and asked them about the beansprouts because I think that's a cause of concern rather than the coffee. They said they don't mix the beansprouts and pho together. If ever they do that, they told me I could always tell them not to mix it. Then when I realized that the single supplement is so cheap by PH standards, I feel like it's a good opportunity to experience sleeping alone in a hotel in abroad now rather than doing it in another country that costs a lot more. I just feel like with my previous experience in mandatory shops, I am now well-armed on how to dodge falling on buying from the mandatory shops unless I am fully aware about what I'm doing.

Eventually I joined them armed with knowing that I can dodge eating beansprouts while pondering where I would drink their coffee there or not... and I decided I will.

When I told people that I'll drink their coffee, my colleagues were worried that I might not sleep well if I drink their Vietnamese Coffee especially someone who never drank that much coffee in their life. I was like okay let's see.

And so the coffee drinking spree began. So whenever there's a coffee or a free coffee, I drank it whatever kind I guess.

If I would evaluate on my experience of drinking black coffee or any form of coffee in general during my trip in Vietnam, I think I realized that it's like drinking some of the Japanese teas that tasted like coffee as part of their complimentary drinks at the Japanese restaurants. I think that's what I picked up based on my experience. About the whether I could sleep at night or not, so far I was able to sleep at night. I am not sure because I timely drank it and my servings are tolerable. I mean the first weekend that I came back from Vietnam, I even drank a Barako coffee when I joined the praycation with the Fil-Chi Catholic community that I'm part of.

Maybe if there is some realization in coffee or caffeine it's the aftermath of the trip was that eight years ago, the matcha latte that I drank quite late at night was not because the tea or powder is old that caused my palpitations, it's that I realized I am a person who cannot drink caffeine in the late evening even if I just drank tea. It took another set of overtime and entering the night-differential mode working with our CEO that made me realized that I am someone who can't drink anything caffeinated very late at night. When I start palpitating past midnight, I knew that the matcha latte I ordered before wasn't a one-off thing, it's real that my body cannot drink any caffeine at night.

I guess that's why people say coffee reacts differently towards the person. I think similar to every dish, every body would react toward it. Some would want it, but can't have it. Some can have it but doesn't want it, while some want it and can have it.

If I would drink coffee again? I mean I don't know. But I would still drink tea, it's just that I now know until what time I'm allowed to drink tea if I don't want to have palpitations out of nowhere. I guess it's true that as you grow older, you don't like to eat a lot of sweets and you are more okay or comfortable with the idea that maybe tasting a little bitterness it's fine - or maybe what you thought its bitter it's not something bitter at all. Maybe if I would answer that Dalai Lama question again about what I would associate coffee to, chances are my answer is going to be different this time.