Every day, I time my espresso consumption for maximum productivity. I’ve been doing this since I was twelve years old and tasted my first cappuccino at what used to be a tiny local coffee shop and roaster in downtown Olympia, WA. I remember the sinfulness of that first drink—summertime, downtown with a boy, walking into a mostly “adult” establishment, plopping up on the barstool, bare legs swinging, ordering some unheard-of concoction. It was still the early nineties, and espresso was a little new on the scene. People didn’t go into coffee shops with their kids and order decaf frappes yet.
 

Most people drinking espresso in shops were at least college-age, and tended to read the New York Times. But man, did that elixir work! You should have seen me on the tire swing over the sound that day my friend. The first thing I did when I went away to college was find a job as a barista at the best local shop.For eight years, through college and graduate school, I managed to always have access to free espresso, and probably did permanent damage to my adrenals with my four or more shot-a-day habit.
 
The first shop where I worked was called Avellino Espresso in Bellingham, WA and it was a “slow-food” establishment run by a mother and daughter duo. The daughter had been conceived by a never-to-be-seen-again Italian man in Avellino Italy while her mother was on study abroad—hence the name of the shop! Each morning beginning around 3am, we baked lavender scones and earl gray soaked cakes, chopped Swiss chocolate and stirred fresh caramel. We used a big old copper manual machine, and I worked there for months before I was allowed to pull a shot for a customer.I remember adjusting the grind and tamp pressure again and again, counting to 17 seconds, then to 26, trying to get that perfect crema, the beautiful rich flavor of spike to smooth.
 
Where I once used coffee to study and write late into the night, I now use it to avoid being a grumpy zombie for my lark of a one-year-old when she wakes me at 4am each morning. These days I often just utilize the French press, although I really can’t wait until the Bookmans café reopens. I truly believe that our espresso (Intelligentsia) and the folks in the café who make it, are some of the best kept secrets in Flagstaff. The quality of our coffee has been one of my primary motivations to get my bum down to the store each day.And some of those kids are great at café art too—I’ve had ferns, flowers, even a teddy bear in my velvety foam.
 
But it’s still always hard to decide: Use the peak of the caffeine high for mothering, work, breakfast cooking, writing, meeting with community contacts? Sometimes I have to spread it out throughout the day: one before work, one before I pick-up the kiddo from school, so I won’t get the dinner cooking grumpies. My message for the day: use your caffeine wisely my friends!