Tuesday, April 6, 2010

coffee, bullvinkle and me


I miss my Java. Okay, I admit it, on special occasions, like yesterday, Easter morning, I treat myself to a cup. The days of my morning potfulls are gone. A year or so ago, I went cold turkey off the bean. You know, it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought. I braced for all kinds of nasty withdrawal symptoms; headaches, dragging around in a zombie-like state. But, no, I sailed into tea drinking seas quite smoothly, I'm proud to say, and I'm sleeping again, like a baby.

Don't get me wrong. Tea can't even be compared to The Cuppo. I would refer to it as "cuppa", but that would be considered female, wouldn't it? Coffee is definitely masculine in my book, full of brawn and gusto. Maybe I should call it "Javo", as well? Tea, on the other hand, is delicately feminine. I like tea, but it isn't a qualified replacement for coffee. I realize how much I miss coffee, after I have a cup. That rich, dark, glorious jolt sends me to the stars, or actually, to be more specific, it sends me to Bullwinkle.

Since I rarely drink it, the grand fix of caffeine makes me jazzed. The theme song from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (that would be "Bullvinkle" to Boris and Natasha) spins fast in my head. So, while I'm in temporary heaven, with the aroma and flavor, the jolt makes me fly like a supersonic squirrel. Not to worry. I visit Bullwinkle J. Moose and his friends, in Moosylvania, where it's good to the last drop, only occasionally, like on Ground Hog's Day and Easter.


58 comments:

  1. Dear Willow, I am still reeling from Rocky. I am now in need of a great deal more than a cup of tea or coffee. You may have come off the caffeine, I am going on to the gin!!

    Such a fun posting which I have enjoyed hugely.

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  2. Ah, the flying squirrel meets the tea-totalling magpie, but, alas, only on Ground Hog's Day and Easter.

    Actually, I've always wondered (but never thought of finding out for myself) if there is life after coffee. Apparently there is. Who would have thunk it?

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  3. I have cut back on my vices of the drinking kind...One cup of Via (starbucks) in the morning, one mocha java in late afternoon and one glass of champagne in early evening...it's come to this?!

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  4. What do you mean, cuppa is female? Nothing beats a good cuppa.

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  5. hi willow! coffee begins each day for me - i love the racing rushing buzz that sparks my neurons into a frenzy of activity that i take to the streets on my bike where the adrenalin rush then translates into a day of teaching (no coffee after eight o'clock), which carries all sorts of sweet endorphins and then home to an evening with a tasty dark ale.
    tea? tea is what i have at my mum's house! unless i convince her to part with the fine beans she has stashed away in one of her hidey holes!!! have a lovely day at the manor willow. steven

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  6. Hi Girl,

    I am also a member of the ex-coffee club. It has been 6 years now. I still miss it. I do drink tea. I love the warmth of a hot beverage, and I am quite a fan of Earl Grey tea.

    Marjorie

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  7. Perhaps good coffee is less of an English thing. I'd rather have coffeee at Starbucks, but otherwise tea at home seems far more satisfying to me. The trouble is that it is more laborious to make well than coffee, so cafes and restaurants often get it wrong. The coffee in Colombia is extraordinary. Different animal.I like "un expresse" in France, but the "expressos" here don't come up to the same standard. Perhaps, like Guinness in Dublin, it has something to do with foreign waters.

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  8. I can never seem to make tea as good as it is in the UK. If I could, I think I could give up coffee entirely. But my husband makes the world's best coffee... I must have just one cup each morning!

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  9. Willow

    How on earth did you even remember about Rocky and Bullwinkle Show -- and "only on Ground Hog Day and Easter,"--that is one for the books, oh how the mind works for the dear creative ones....
    My expensive coffee pot maker broke have yet to replace it --no one else drinks coffee in my house so now I drink tea -- my favorite is a good cuppa Irish Breakfast --
    Joanny

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  10. May I recommend Brooke Bond PG Tips Teabags? Very robusto and British! I take mine with milk and sugar. Any time of night or day! A cuppa is a cuppa is a cuppa. Just slang and an affectionate term for any sort of beverage! Now in my case I call a mugga tea a cuppa, so it gets complicated!

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  11. I am glad you quit without nasty withdrawal...I commend you!
    I have THOUGHT and THOUGHT about quitting...but have NOT taken "the 'Bull Winkle' by its horns."

    Quite frankly, I am a coward...it is an addiction I am SCARED to address!!!

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  12. I Love My Coffee but Respect Your willpower Willow!

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  13. gave up coffee many years ago due to participating in a homeopathic cure. Never returned except for a short time when driving long distances. As I never drank coffee otherwise, one cup drugged me up and gave me speedy courage to face the highway. However, a week of yoga cured me of my highway phobia and now I dont need coffee a'tall.

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  14. Willow , Sorry to say I have 4 cups of fresh ground coffee every morning, That was so cute and the
    music i'll have to remember when I am whizzing around in the mornings.
    I am just worn out at 2pm. the
    bunn7y is all wound out.
    Tea is better for you..

    yvonne

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  15. smiles. went off the bean last week, though did treat myself to a cup on easter...with similar effect. lol. i do miss it...but i am clean once again today....

    getting ready to drop my magpie!

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  16. Oh dear -- life without coffee. Unimaginable!

    Well, except when I have a cold -- then coffee tastes foul and tea is what I crave.

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  17. Rocky's cool, but Bullwinkle is my hero!

    I switched from coffee to tea 2 or 3 years ago; having cholesterol and cardiac issues, I go with tea because I get caffeine with the added bonus of antioxidants, which coffee doesn't have. Like you, I still have a coffee occasionally, but I haven't noticed that it made me any more hyper than usual.

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  18. Good Day Willow Dear,

    My stove top espresso was burbling as I glanced at my favorite blogs, and there was this posting about coffee. One of my few vices, I would not want to go a day without it (2 cups in the AM & an espresso or two in the PM). I've been tasting Sumatra's lately and enjoying their earthy, wet forest leafy characteristics. I like coffee hot. I like coffee iced. This demi tasse is just what I needed to perk up about now.

    Tea is fascinating too. So many different flavors, scents, colors etc... I've been exploring teas these past couple years with a preference for Golden Dragon Oolong. Very nice.

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  19. I need my early morning cup of coffee to start the day. I could probably cut out the rest of the day but not that first cup.

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  20. Bullwinkle & coffee--makes sense to me--I've always been a big fan of both!

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  21. I made the switch to tea too! Gotta say it's still hard for me to pass the Starbucks...it seems my car has a caffeine problem and just pulls right into the drive thru lane!

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  22. Coffee is my friend; coffee is my friend; coffee is my friend....
    Glad to know that one can drop friends if necessary to do so.

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  23. I was a tea-drinker, almost exclusively until a certain Dane came into my life. I've tried to give it up, but I don't drink too much of it and I can't resist the aroma and the flavour and that kick has birthed some of my best creations!

    Kat

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  24. I drink lots of coffee but only in the morning. After that my choices are decaf green tea or water. I even like the aroma of coffee.

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  25. Oh dear....I do *puffy heart* my morning cup of coffee. I haven't thought of Bullwinkle in years!! Love him.

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  26. Sometimes I even think of something I can do in town so that I can "stop" at Starbuck's to enjoy a mocha. I know...it sinful to have to "fake" a trip to town but I've actually heard that tea (unless it is herbal or caffeine-free) has more caffeine in it than coffee. So...I order Decaf, single-shot, non-fat, mocha with no whip. Kind of like a "no fun mocha" isn't it!

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  27. All things in moderation. I have two cups of strong coffee in the morning and then that's all. After that, water til I have my one drink at night.

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  28. Two cups of java in the morning are enough for me . . . unless I've been to Phoenix and had a big lunch. Then I stop at Barnes and Nobel for a big iced mocha before hitting the freeway for the 70-80 minute drive home. SWMBO drinks tea in the morning.

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  29. Life post-coffee can never compare to life when coffee was a daily and treasured pleasure. I still yearn to taste the round, full, roastiness of a good cup. Weekends when the family is brewing pots and pots of the yearned-for elixir can be hell. I steal a mouthful when they are not looking and my eyes roll back in my head at the utter deliciousness of the real cup o' joe. But knowing that my ticker will promptly act wonky if I continue my pursuit of the roasted bean stops me dead.

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  30. Boris and Natasha were among my favs... staloke, staloke, staloke.... my daaaling!!
    :) The Bach

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  31. Love my Cuppo! You are a strong woman to cut the ties.

    Great post, and I love the new blog design.

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  32. Loved Rocky & Bullwinkle. I used to watch it after school. I have been drinking coffe since I was a child. Started in about 3rd grade. My Mother and I would have a cup every morning before I went to grade school. I do love tea, too...especially Earl Grey.

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  33. Oh, that was fun!

    Glad you enjoyed your brew; gosh, I can't imagine only having coffee two times a year!! ...but perhaps if I wasn't sleeping well, it would have to go. Maybe.

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  34. I've never thought of coffee or tea as being gender specific.

    But now that I think about it, you're right.

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  35. Both are good....

    BTW, check the March 30 post here:
    http://teadork.blogspot.com/

    I'm looking into this one.

    Cheers!

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  36. Thanks for the link, CM. What a wonderful tea blog!

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  37. You know it's most odd, Willow. I was always an inveterate coffee drinker and then out of the blue about three years ago I suddenly stopped drinking it. For some reason my body had decided it did not want it any more.

    I occasionally have a cup now and usually feel a bit peculiar afterwards.

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  38. Hello Willow,

    If that is what coffee does to you, it must be SOME cuppo! Haven't seen Bullwinkle in years.

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  39. What a blast from the past! I remember Bullwinkle like it was yesterday. Coffee? I can't drink brewed for some reason. It makes me way too hyper. The instant Classico is fine. I can drink it all day and don't get that crazy buzz. Thanks for the chuckles!!!

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  40. For once we are reversed images. Everything you've said applies vice versa to me!

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  41. OMG Willow you are the best, for so many reasons. When I played the video and heard the song I had to actually, literally laugh out loud. Oh yeah.

    Javo (much more appropriate) is SO masculine. Never thought about it that way, but it's so true! And it's such a powerful drug!

    No wonder that most offices supply it for free to their employees. Smart yet evil, yes?

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  42. I like the picture and wonder what kind of coffee it might be? I love coffee.

    I tried Green Tea once, on the recommendation of some English blogging friends. I loved it so much that I couldn't stop drinking it until it put me in the hospital for several days. They worked hard to get my heart regulated and I was warned to stop drinking stuff like that with caffeine. So I don't drink tea anymore. Still love coffee though.

    We got some real coffee from Columbia from our son's girlfriend and it is wow-whee.

    It will make your head feel like a wood screw being screwed into iron.
    It is the kind of coffee that comes closes to being strong like old Army coffee brewed in a steel pot (helmet).

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  43. Too funny. Hmmmm...I tried to leave a comment, but maybe it didn't "take."

    For me, drinking coffee is like the Rossini "March of the Swiss Soldiers" music in the Lone Ranger. It makes me so anxious and wound up, but not in a good way--in a stressed way, so I don't drink it. But thankfully, Joe loves it, and I get to still savour the wonderful aromas of it...

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  44. I am a proud graduate of Whatsammatta U., Rocky.

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  45. Ah, Willow... coffee is one of my most beloved vices. I am one of those people who cannot smile or think without my morning cup. I have cut back these days - now just one cup in the morning and perhaps one if I am out and about in the day with friends.

    I lived in England a while back and did learn to brew an authentic tea.... and like it.... but I rarely drink it now I am Stateside.

    I missed the "Bullvinkle und "Natasha" cartoons...but have seen them on Cartoon Channel....very cute... I "luff" Natasha and her counter-spy.

    Great post - as always!

    Hugs,

    ♥ Robin ♥

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  46. In our country they place a bit of it in the milk for us as kids. So, no, it is unimaginable to ever give up coffee for tea. I've had tea, amazing tea, from India and China which reside in my house. I do drink it from time to time. But no tea can drag me away from my beloved coffee as the beverage of choice. My hat's off to you for the will power.

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  47. I agree about coffee, willow. I try not to drink too much or it keeps me awake - but tea does not compare. I like my tea very pale golden with no milk or sugar. Wish you could pop in and have a cup with me. (or maybe we could be really wicked and make it a strong coffee!)

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  48. Give up coffee? Now, that is one love affair I'm not ready to say goodbye to.

    The new header is gorgeous, Willow.

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  49. I cut way back on drinking coffee last summer after paying $500 to have my teeth whitened. I still drink a bit of latte but through a straw and it just is not the same as slurping on a hot cuppo joe. *sighs*..

    Di
    The Blue Ridge Gal

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  50. oh, willow....just too funny...

    me like-ee the tea too....

    2 weeks till teddy bear !

    kary
    xxx

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  51. i love me several cups if i go out for breakfast, but no thanks anytime in the afternoon...i had a couple big mugs after Easter lunch and i maybe got a couple good hours of sleep that night...give me a good cup of tea anytime.

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  52. admirable.

    tried it for a week, and realized i NEED that cup and a half in the morning to get my pistons firing.

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  53. Mmmmmmmm, a cup of joe. I think I'm going to go make myself a cup.

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  54. Rocky and Bullwinkle! That takes me back to the early 60's, Bozo the clown, Soupy Sales and The Superman Show, The Three Stooges, and numerous cartoons not to mention the Mickey Mouse Club! After school programs and how hyper was Rocky and Bullwinkle's Theme song. I get your point about hyper. Lately coffee, if I drink more than 2 a day, I'll have more than enough rocket fuel to launch Mighty Mouse! Mot to mention the afterburner effects...are they curing coffee anymore; ouch!

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  55. You are a stronger gal than me dear Willow. As I don't drink tea, if I gave up coffee, I may as well give up life. Dear old Rocky & Bullwinkle, those are great memories. As a 6 year old, sitting crossed legged on the floor in front of the TV at 6p.m. on a Saturday night transfixed to their black & white characters. I'm so glad they made it across the Pacific to Aussie shores. Isn't it amazing the things that draw us all together!
    Millie ^_^

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  56. Hi! Willow,
    This is a fun post...Thanks, for sharing! I really like your photograph...as I mentioned before my mother favorite (and secretly mine too!) plate(s)(china?!?)...The Bleu Willow.

    I will try to pick up a copy of The Visitor.

    DeeDee ;-D

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)