All of my life, I HATED the taste of coffee. The only way I could muscle it down was to suppress the taste with gallons of cream, sugar, and vanilla or caramel flavoring. Therefore, I didn't see a point in drinking it, since, if I did, it would NOT be a healthy beverage. So, I stuck with tea.

Tea became an obsession for me. I have a whole shelf in the kitchen pantry for all of my different flavors at both my mom's house AND my dad's house. I even have two Trader Joe's paper bags full of tea in the kitchen closet at my apartment, too. Be it green, white, black, herbal, fruity, spicy - you name it, I drink it!

A few weeks ago, I was compelled to drink coffee at a staff training breakfast. There wasn't any hot water for the tea bag I had with me, just coffee. I also brought a vanilla creme Genuine Muscle Milk protein drink with me, so I decided to mix it with some coffee. To my surprise, it was absolutely delightful. The coffee had that creamy taste I need when drinking it but, instead of being full of unhealthy creamer and sugar, it was full of protein and nutrients!

I discovered a way to hack the coffee game!

I mean, let's be honest: protein shakes are not very tasty on their own. Still, many of us drink them daily after workouts or as meal replacements in attempt to get enough protein into our diet and maintain a healthy weight. Why force them down plain when you can make them actually taste good by mixing them with coffee?

I have now tried this with several different protein shakes and flavors other than the initial vanilla creme Genuine Muscle Milk, including the chocolate flavor and the salted caramel Premier Protein shake, and they have all been successful missions. Plain coffee is good but using a French vanilla brew makes them even tastier!

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy my tea and participate in tea time with my roommates at 8:23 pm on a regular basis. But there is something about coffee that just wakes you up a bit more in the morning or during that afternoon slum... and it makes you have to go poop, which is always a plus.

So, this is my latest discovery and I am pretty happy about it, as you can probably tell from me writing a whole article about it. I highly recommend giving it a try, even if you don't like the taste of coffee. You'd be surprised with how delicious it is to mix your protein shakes with coffee - it honestly tastes like a dessert!

I never thought a die-hard tea drinker like me would ever get hooked on coffee, but it happened, and it can happen to you to by hacking the coffee game!