for love of coffee

It's day five, no coffee. Sweet-ish and caramel-tinged, frothy and dessert-like. Oh, java. (sigh) I miss you.

We were so good together.

I decided that my 4-cup per day habit was out of hand when I started having trouble sleeping. This has happened before. The last time it happened, I just went a few days without coffee at all, and my symptoms of lethargy-yet-sleeplessness disappeared! For a whole year, almost! But now they're back, and on Monday of this week, I embarked on 7 days without having any coffee at all.

Day Five. (whimper)

Ninth Street Espresso mugs, great diner shape. 

I was trolling the archives for the 5 million shoots I'm behind on blogging, and the first one that came to mind was when I shot with Joe Speicher of Ground to Grounds at Ninth Street Espresso earlier this year. 

Ground to Grounds is a must-click if you're a coffee nerd like me. It's an online publication about the world of coffee. From farm to cup, and everything in between. Their Instagram feed is a love note to my favorite bean, and their site always has profiles of cool coffee shops across the country. After our visit, Joe put together this cool post featuring our afternoon getting to know Ninth Street Espresso General Manager Trey Wrage. He used to live in my hometown, Santa Cruz, CA!

Ninth Street Espresso has been a favorite of mine for a sweet tiny cup of espresso ever since I discovered them when I worked near their outpost in Chelsea Market. This time, I got to tour two other locations!

Drool with me? Better yet, go have a cup of coffee for me. I have to last until Monday. 

happy place.

p.s. On Day 1 and 2 of a coffee-free existence, the difficulty was pretty much all mental. I just WANTED it, because it looks and tastes like sweet, sweet heaven. But I didn't have a crazy headache, and I did have more energy, weirdly. On Day 5, I'm just getting downright nostalgic for the old days. Like, last-Sunday old. I think all this sleep I'm getting is getting to my head. Everything will feel normal come Monday, when I am back to my awesomely jittery self. COFFEE!