The Jetlagged International Teacher’s Secret Weapon: A Cold Brew Coffee System

Every international schoolteacher I’ve asked has been through it. After your long summer holidays spent joyously visiting family and friends, and possibly even traveling around the world, you come back and have to work in a different time zone. Sometimes the time zone of your summer vacation and your work are only a few hours different, and you find yourself either waking up an hour or so before your alarm or waking up extremely sleepy for a week. Other times, the transition can be brutal.

Traveling from the Pacific Northwestern United States to Sudan, we have to adjust to an 11-hour time difference. This is difficult for me to admit, but back in our early twenties it was no big deal. Now, as we’re reaching 30, our internal clocks have become more stubborn and the 2:00 to 3:00 AM wake-up times are lasting longer and longer.

On the positive side of things, waking up at 3:00 in the morning allows you to do lots of unpacking, cook up a delicious, elaborate breakfast, and even read a few chapters of your book before work.

But then about halfway through the day your body realizes that it has been awake for long enough and you crash, unable to concentrate on anything or have a simple discussion without repeating yourself over and over.

Cue the cold brew coffee system. It’s super simple and easy to prep. You just need to fill the mesh strainer with coffee, fill with water, and let seep in the fridge for 12 hours. We have two pitchers, so we make sure we always have one full of coffee and one brewing. As soon as we feel a crash coming on, the coffee is already waiting for us.

And don’t worry, mom, although I am very addicted to coffee, once the jetlag is over I will tone it down.