Why I Love Coffee

Living in Cambodia only a few years ago was difficult. There were no places to escape to other than your own house or a completely different country altogether. My family used to spend our summers and Christmas holidays either in Switzerland, or travelling around southeast Asia. I remember one of my favorite treats was going to Bangkok, a city I came to really fall in love with when I was younger, and going to Starbucks. It was like a dream, going to big, westernized coffee shop, ordering a superb coffee that, although overpriced, was totally delicious, and sipping it. It was like a relief, after all that terrible stuff we witnessed and experienced in Cambodia. Coffee was a part of my moment of peace, outside the country where there didn't seem to be anyplace to calm down and relieve my senses.

Nowadays, I'm so blessed with the abundance of coffee shops Cambodia has to offer now. We have literally hundreds of them now, dotting the street corners, especially in the more tourist-packed areas of the city. Phnom Penh has come a long way these past few years, and the arrival of these coffee shops is one of my favorite aspects of it. Now, I no longer have to travel by plane for an hour and a half to get to Starbucks; I have a lot wonderful, not-as-overpriced coffee shops right in my neighborhood!

I'm not saying that Phnom Penh doesn't still have the stressful aspects of it that it had many years ago - there are still times when I feel like I just need to go home, or get out of the country for a while. But usually that isn't possible. And that's when coffee is yet another part of my "escape", a way that I can "get away" from the stress and hubbub of everyday life in Asia, settle into a comfy chair in my air-conditioned bedroom and sip coffee from my favorite mug. Coffee makes me feel like everything's going to be okay, starting with the wonderful taste of it on my tongue.

I absolutely adore coffee. I drink mine fairly simply: only a generous dash of semi-skimmed milk in a mug of fresh, steaming black coffee is enough to satisfy me. It's how I start off every day.

Another glorious invention that entered the more-developed Phnom Penh was this: decaffeinated coffee. For some of you, this may not make sense. Many people around the world drink coffee for the caffeinated buzz it brings to keep you awake or help you stay alert at work. For me, I just drink coffee because it tastes good. That's the only reason I need. Which is why the decaffeinated stuff doesn't bother me. Same taste, and I can drink it at night. Doesn't that sound great?

Almost every night ever since my mom discovered this stuff first at the supermarket, she brews a small pot full of decaffeinated coffee at night, just for the two of us. It's our solution of how to calm ourselves down at night to escape from the stress of the day and think of more beautiful things. Some people like a glass of wine, or a hot bath. I drink decaffeinated coffee, and it's superb.

So yeah. Coffee. Caffeinated or not, it's definitely my favorite drink on this planet, and I love it.