5 Steps to Drinking Black Coffee
I have been a coffee drinker for a long time. Of course, my coffee drinking started like a lot of peoples' coffee drinking does--full of sugar, creamer and flavored syrups. As good as these sugary additives make coffee taste, it is not necessarily the most healthy way to enjoy a good cup of joe while also reaping list of health benefits of coffee.
Having been aware of the many unhealthy properties of the most common surgery coffee creamers from brands like Coffee Mate and International Delight, I decided that I would take the journey to becoming a black coffee drinker.
I can now say with confidence that I prefer black coffee to coffee with sugary additives. Now don't get me wrong, a little coconut vanilla latte from Starbucks is a nice little treat once a week, but my day to day coffee has officially been switched to a good o' black cup o' joe.
Now I can drink as much coffee as I want to my heart's desire without worrying about drinking my calories or getting that obnoxious sugar mixed with caffeine rush a half an hour after enjoying my coffee.
Now, these are the steps I took to accomplish this very adult step in my life.
1. Commit
Now, the first step to accomplish black coffee bliss is making a commitment to weaning yourself off of added sugars. This takes acknowledging that changing your taste buds to enjoying a more bitter flavor of coffee takes time and will not happen overnight. I didn't fully enjoy a good cup of black coffee until probably 3 months after I started to take this journey.2. Figure out where you are right now
Are you a coffee with creamer person? A coffee with added sugar packet person? Do you always drink espresso drinks like lattes with added syrups? Where I began was drinking brewed coffee with an International Delight creamer. My go-to was French Vanilla. Every morning I would brew up a travel mug of my coffee and add a good helping of my French Vanilla creamer. My college campus has a coffee shop that serves Starbucks so a couple times a week I would also get a soy vanilla latte since that was the only milk alternative. (I am lactose intolerant so milk is out of the picture). Therefore, I was pretty reliant on drinking coffee with added sugars or syrups in them. Once you know where you are as a coffee drinker, you can then figure out where to go.
3. Reduce your creamer or sugary syrup amount
Knowing that I used a good helping of creamer in my coffee every morning, I started off by simply reducing the amount that I consumed in every cup/travel mug. If, for example, I used about 2-3 tablespoons of creamer, I simply reduced it to about 1.5 tablespoons. From there, every week, I reduced my creamer little by little.
In terms of my lattes, I still got my grande soy vanilla latte, but I asked for fewer pumps of vanilla syrup. Usually, at Starbucks, there are 3 pumps of syrup in a tall latte, 4 in a grande, and 5 in a venti. I started asking for only 2 pumps in my grande and only 1 pump in my tall latte.
In terms of my lattes, I still got my grande soy vanilla latte, but I asked for fewer pumps of vanilla syrup. Usually, at Starbucks, there are 3 pumps of syrup in a tall latte, 4 in a grande, and 5 in a venti. I started asking for only 2 pumps in my grande and only 1 pump in my tall latte.
4. Using alternate creamers
Once I got to the point where I stopped using International Delight and other such creamers, I got to the point where I switched to using almond milk instead. This is a super good option that doesn't have added sugars but still dilutes your coffee. You can, of course, use any type of milk like coconut milk, skim milk, soy milk, etc. to achieve this same step. In my espresso drinks, I started getting just a soy or coconut latte and adding cinnamon or nutmeg spices to it.
5. Cutting yourself off completely
So you've done all the steps above and you're finally ready to try integrating black coffee into your daily routine. It takes some getting used to, but ultimately it saves calories from the added sugars, money from buying creamers and ultimately makes you a badass bitch since you're hardcore enough to pour yourself a cup of joe without getting butthurt that your work meeting doesn't have any creamer options. Congrats! You've officially become a seasoned coffee drinker!
0 comments