Quadrupolo Espresso

So, yesterday afternoon when I met Ms. Crafty for coffee at the Roma in Berkeley (a delightful outing all around), I ordered a usual afternoon quaff, a double espresso.

I expected to get this:

But instead, they filled a cup like this:

I'm not complaining - really - I'm not. I like that their "doppio" is my "twelvo." The economy alone is fantastic, but I also get to enjoy that much more of a tasty beverage.

But this is dangerous. On one hand, I could be considered a recovering caffeine addict and seeing that giant bowl of espresso, I was excited, like I was getting 3x my "fix" for free. I kept looking at it thinking, Are they really going to give me all that? Without charging me extra? Really?

So I tried to play it cool, like I always drink that much espresso at 4 in the afternoon and it's cool. It's cool. I can handle it.

We sat down and got caught up as I sipped my way through my dense coffee lake. It wasn't too long before I noticed my hands were shaking. And I usually talk fast, but I think I was on the verge of sounding like the FedEx guy from their 80s ads.

Even Ms. Crafty noticed the shaky hands - it was hard to hide. But she saw what they gave me. Anyone would have been shaky and twitchy, running off at the mouth about pajama pants and making stew.

I got home in time for dinner, but wasn't hungry (shock). I caught up on email and read a few magazines waiting for The Wire to come on. Man, that show. We're so sad to see it come to an end, but it's been a treat to watch it from the start and see how it will all wrap up.

When it was time for bed, I'm sure you can imagine what happened then. Yup - lying there in a very warm, pre-heated cocoon, reading my book, I could have kept reading all night and perhaps into Wednesday afternoon. I could have painted the garage and rototilled the back yard.

I think I've learned my lesson. It was rough getting up this morning. And for the second night in a row, I was awake at 4:30am, thinking it was morning - and the first night that happened there was no caffeine OD at work. Maybe my brain thinks we've moved to Hawaii. If only.