Today, I saw the following tweet on Twitter:
dredding: @
jfollas taking coffee away from a developer is like taking away a dominatrix's whip. You just don't do it.
This made me smile—not because of how creepy my friend
Dave Redding is (very
creepy),
but because of how true the sentiment is. At least, it's true for me. Coffee is an
addiction that I've fully embraced. It's difficult for me to start a day without
that bold flavor. Some developers might choose to get their buzz in another way
(and a smaller percentage choose to have none at all), but I've picked coffee as
my caffeine-delivery system of choice.
I've really become quite the coffee snob. For me, only the very best coffee
will do. I buy my coffee whole bean from
Grounds for Thought in Bowling
Green, OH. Of all the
roasts they
produce, Kenya "Gazelle" AA and Papua New Guinea "Mile High" Estate AA+ are
definitely my favorites. The Kenya has a nice bite that wakes me up while the
New Guinea is smooth all the way down.
But what is it about caffeine that causes many developers crave it so? I
mean, aside from the fact that it helps wake us up in the mornings. It certainly
doesn't make me a nicer person to be around. In fact, too much makes me
downright grouchy. However, the right amount seems to put my brain in a zone
that sees problems more clearly. It's almost as if the caffeine gives my think
meat the extra zip that it needs to solve problems. Perhaps caffeine unlocks
areas of our minds that allow us to be better developers, if only for a moment.
Then again, maybe that's just the coffee talkin'.