1: pike's roast; grande; hot

Hi, I'm Alysa. And this is my first blog post ever:

I only started to love to write once my AP english literature teacher broke me down and told me how poor my writing truly was. My weakness was never really that my writing said nothing; rather, I expressed my ideas in too many words and with too many details. "Flowery writing" is what he called it--trying to make writing sound as pretty and lovely, "as flowers" by coating it with heavy description. As he painfully tore my writing style apart, I found myself in Starbucks for endless hours either trying to work on my own writing habits or reading the literature of authors who have already mastered their own style. Although I rarely found his workload easy and light, he is now my favorite teacher because of the tough way he helped me discover the power and beauty of literature, writing and coffee. 

My blog, therefore, is centered around this dark, caffeinated beverage that helped inspire me and my development as a writer. Once I really began writing and reading for the class, it became my escape from the suffocating environment I was in.  I grew up in an extremely small Jewish community in Atlanta, in which my private Jewish high school had two hallways and 96 kids. By senior year, Starbucks became a private, personal space outside my house and community to breathe and think and eventually write. I may be a crazy coffee addict now (proven by my blog's name including the beverage drank while writing it,) but at least I have gained more from it than a caffeine buzz.