I need it to function, to rise, to not spend the entire day weeping. Coffee makes me high, and I like it.
All addictions have their rituals, which become almost as important as the substance itself.
Around A.D. 1000, Ethiopians began pulverizing roasted beans and whipping the powder in hot water, the same way we make cocoa. The hot drink's popularity encouraged the first coffeehouses in Mecca, Damascus, and Constantinople, spreading the cultivation of the coffee tree to the Yemeni port of Mocha. In the 16th and 17th century, the English, Dutch, and French got hooked on the stuff and began smuggling the beans to their colonies for cultivation to circumvent the Arabs' monopoly. John Thorne, for example, describes his eccentric morning ritual of roasting a handful of beans in a Chinese metal dim sum steamer tray in the toaster oven at 450 degrees, shaking them when they start popping, resulting in a delicately toasted bean in six minutes. No fancy equipment but a flame under a skillet .