why i will not drink coffee for a week or so

The liberica coffee tree, where Batangas harvests
their famous kapeng barako

Last Friday, I had the caffeine overload of my life.

I went on a photoshoot assignment for (let's call it) M magazine, the pet project whom I have a love-hate relationship with (love trumps the hate in most cases). My crew, consisted of art director Con, contributing writer Zy and our driver for the day, plus me of course as photog/managing editor, drove to Lipa, Batangas to feature the city's OTOP (One Town, One Product) as well as other industries thriving in the area. Lipa's OTOP is kapeng barako (liberica coffee). We had a shoot with two of the forerunners in the business, and yes, we did sample cupfuls of kapeng barako in all its strong, unadulterated flavor. The first entrepreneur on our list came up with the idea of instant coffee in a tea bag (that's Xandro's coffee); while the second one, Cafe de Lipa, can give Starbucks a run for its money.

Art director Con saying hello while styling
the Pinoy-inspired brownies of Cafe de Lipa

We had free brewed coffee, frappuccino, Pinoy-inpsired pastries (like pili nut and tablea brownies) and even a bag of Cafe de Lipa ground coffee!

For only Php200, you get a bag of Cafe de Lipa coffee
with this very pretty gift box!

On the way home, us three girls were all hyper and palpitating, we had to stop over at a gas station to buy bottled water so we can flush away all the day's caffeine from our system.

So now for fear of extreme palpitation, I shall do my best to avoid brewing coffee every morning for a week.

P.S.
I blame some of my colleagues for giving us a coffee maker as a wedding gift. I seldom drank coffee before, but because of that coffee maker, I've become a frequent coffee drinker. Now, I find brewing coffee therapeutic. Haha!