A friend offered it to me; that was the first time I tried it.

I was tired after pulling an all-nighter and desperately seeking something to wake me up. She handed me her thermos, and I grabbed it with eyes wide.

The taste was bitter — not what I expected — but it did the job and kept me alert all day.

My love affair with coffee began that morning in a high school hallway. Ever since, my first cup of coffee in the morning has become a highly anticipated event.

It has taken a substantial amount of trial and error to figure out what variation of additives works best in my cup. After trying different combinations, I have it down to a science. I fill my cup a little over halfway with coffee and then finish it off with cream — A LOT of cream.

The pleasure I take in preparing my coffee stems from the way it makes me feel. After drinking my first two cups I am really inspired. I have found extremely optimistic to-do lists around my room, written with a shaky hand.

Picking up a fresh cup of coffee has become a pre-requisite for me to get any homework done; it is the only thing that can get me excited about writing a research paper.

I embrace the fact that this is a little excessive. It may be too much, but it keeps me productive. It also makes me a happier person. Coffee deserves to be thanked for keeping offices and classroom a pleasant place to be at 7 a.m.

Coffee shops are a notorious shelter for students and artists. The welcoming furniture and promise of a hot cup of joe are enough to keep people inside Starbucks for hours.

Conversations I have overheard between people at coffee shops range from inspiring to trivial, but all have one thing in common: passion. It is hard not to sound passionate about something when you are twitching from a possible caffeine overdose.

Recently, I have tried to cut down my daily intake from three cups to two. So far, it is not working out well. When I am suffering from a severe case of writer’s block or about to fall asleep in class, sometimes I just need a cup of that liquid magic.