Culture Shock #9: German coffee isn't a health hazard

I know that caffeine is a drug. Of course, the amount of caffeine one ingests varies by drink. Many members of my family are green tea lovers, a drink that typically contains a mild to medium level of caffeine. Meanwhile, many members of my gay family favor chai, which typically has slightly more caffeine than green tea. 

And then there are the brave U.S. American coffee-drinkers in my life.

My use of the word "brave" to describe these people is entirely unironic. Like most things in the U.S., a cup coffee is (I can only assume) at least twice as big as a cup of coffee everywhere else in the world and probably four-times as lethal.

People warned me about getting peer-pressured into drinking in college. I thought they meant alcohol, but they must've meant coffee. Again and again, I tried to be a coffee drinker, often with disasterous results. Many of you can attest to this. My ex-roommates, for example, are deeply familiar with the graveyard of delicately-sipped and quickly-abandoned cups of coffee I scootched to the back of our fridge before booking it to the bathroom. Not to mention the humiliating panic attacks I've suffered due to my (albeit careful!) consumption of U.S. American coffee. I think my record was four sips of a small Roos Roast latte. Who puts two shots in a small latte?? I think I even called Michelle and had her talk me down from said coffee panic attack. She was the one who reminded me that caffeine is a drug that is rarely kind to the anxiety-inclined. 

I had no intention of drinking coffee when I moved to Germany. I figured I would be so hyped up on the fact that I had just moved to Germany that I wouldn't need it. Then I started working 40 hours a week. Suddenly I found myself googling how to say "cappuccino" in German ("cappuccino") and wondering if a cuppa would be worth the potential consequences. 

I'll cut to the chase here: it totally was! Cups of coffee in Germany are adorable. Little ol' me was absolutely delighted to experience a subtle buzz of energy without the side effect of Feeling Like I'm At Death's Doorstep. 

While I still don't intend on becoming a Coffee Person, it's nice to know that I can grab a cup with a pal every once and a while without writing my will first.