Help! I need a caffeine fix!

I don’t drink lots of coffee and I don’t like it plain - just give me macchiato, cappuccino and latte every time and I’m happy – so I did not expect this kind of withdrawal symptoms. I’m used to headaches so that’s not so bad.

The biggest thing I’ve noticed is the overwhelming sleepiness. I just can’t get enough sleep. As a devout coffee drinker, I accepted the fact that I would never have the most normal sleeping patterns and I accept that. I got work done. I am a night owl and I enjoy that. Now it seems as though I cannot stay awake past 10 pm without wanting to doze off or read a book without getting very tired.

I know it seems like for someone who hasn’t had coffee in six days (and counting) these are some pretty broad statements, but caffeine withdrawal is, from what I understand, a very quick thing to take full effect.
I don’t know how I’m going to manage until Easter day, especially as during my last week of coffee abstinence I will be in Italy where I usually spend most of my time visiting friends and family (who offer you espressos all the time and get offended if you decline them!) or meeting them in our favourite coffee bar!

To cheer myself up I took some photos of the first flowers in my garden. I think they are pretty nice, especially as I haven’t looked after them or even planted them, at least not since a very long time!

The Cappuccino Experience

One disadvantages of living abroad for me – a cappuccino addict – is to find where to drink a nice cappuccino. It is usually too watery, too weak, too bitter etc. For quite a long time I had to put up with Pret-a-manger and Starbucks, where cappuccino is not that bad but they give you those enormous cups and you usually get a decent taste only because they manage to hide their bad coffee taste with a huge portion of full-fat and creamy milk.

Then I discovered this beauty:

It is an old style professional coffee-cappuccino machine that was very popular in Italian bars in the 60s. My friend Ottavio (aka Otto) of La Bottega della Langhe (Langhe is the area near where I come from) bought it in Italy for a reasonable sum but then spent a lot of money to have it properly restored and the fabulous results have already paid up. The cappuccino is just perfect.

Of course I cannot go there every morning for breakfast like I used to do when I lived in Italy and like my friends still do before they go work. A quick cappuccino or espresso, a lovely jam-filled croissant and you are ready to face a long day of work! But it is still nice to know that if I have some spare time or just feel a bit down I can pop in and have my lovely coffee fix ….

….and there is even a corner with my favourite Italian sweets…