The Caffeine Fix

Ever since I started my placement year at OXO last June, I’ve since become a coffee addict and am 100% obsessed with the stuff! Whether it’s an iced coffee in the summer or a warm almond milk latte in the winter, I can’t get enough of my daily caffeine fix. Having Illy coffee so readily available was a huge plus, so trying to find something that lived up to it after I left was a bit of a challenge.

Having embarked on a dairy free lifestyle, I switched my love for cow’s milk for almond milk. At first, I really couldn’t see the attraction in it, but as my taste buds change, I now can’t think of anything I would rather drink. Almond milk is a great milk alternative, as it provides so much more nutrition and tonnes less fat that full fat milk. Not many coffee shops have almond milk on their menu, so my jaunts to Starbucks or Costa meant that I would switch to soya milk instead. I have since read that soya milk isn’t actually as good for you as you might think, and decided to look into it. I’m not going to go into all of the whys and wherefores because I’m not a nutritionist, so feel free to look into it yourselves, but soy is a legume and therefore has the same harmful components that other beans do. Soy is often promoted as an alternative food for celiac and gluten intolerant people, but its lectins can be harmful to the intestines even when the gluten is removed.

I now only ever make my coffee at home using Almond Breeze almond milk, unless I’m just buying a black coffee when I’m out. I’ve also started putting coffee into my protein shakes in the morning to give me an extra boost, so with my chocolate protein powder it creates something like a healthy iced mocha.

Being a daily coffee drinker, I often wondered how good or bad the stuff actually was for me, and having found an article on Red Online my caffeine woes were soon over. According to a Harvard study, drinking four or more cups of coffee a day could cut the risk of depression in women, and for those who indulge in at least two cups a day have a 20% lower chance of developing depression later in life. It also emits stress free scents, helping you to keep calm and relaxed throughout the day. This has certainly encouraged me add some more coffee to my day, keeping me full of beans.

Coffee certainly makes the world go round, and if money can’t buy you happiness, it can buy you really good coffee, which is pretty much the same thing. Right? My favourite is the Clipper Organic Decaf Latin American Instant Coffee, perfect for those miserable mornings.