Starbucks has ruined good old, regular American coffee. Okay, I know a lot of you probably love Starbucks and please don't hold any of this against me, but I just don't and for good reason. By creating elaborate latte, mocha, mochaccino, frappaccino and whatever-else-they-can-come-up-with drinks, they have resorted to making a coffee so strong that it's gross. They had to. Otherwise you would just be drinking syrup and sugar and cream. So they brewed the strongest beans they could as strongly as they could so that people would feel like they were still drinking some sort of coffee when really they were just having dessert for breakfast. By the way have you tried some of their desserts? Not good. Dry & tasteless, most of them - guess you don't need flavor in your pastry if you are drinking a half a cup of flavored syrup with your breakfast.
So if you are like me and you just want a cup of black coffee, Starbucks is not the place to go. Don't get me wrong, I love a good cup of coffee. I like to try dark roasts and columbian blends and strong espresso shots as much as the next coffee lover. But there is a way to brew this stuff for the average coffee drinker and Starbucks goes way overboard. I think they just double the amount of beans per cup to make it strong enough to withstand the sugary crud they pour in there. I avoid Starbucks as much as possible, but when I have no choice, I will partake. Since they brew their coffee so strong that it is a bitter mess, I usually ask for the barista to give me about an inch of hot water at the top of my cup. That way I can get a pretty decent cup of nice strong joe without having to add salt.
Oh - the salt thing! This is my only occasional add-in for coffee. Whenever you are given a cup of coffee that is bitter because it's been sitting in the same pot all day or it's the end of the pot or some teenager that thinks they are a barista at your local coffee shop doesn't know whay they are doing - sprinkle in some salt and stir! It sounds crazy, I know, but it cuts the bitterness and doesn't affect the flavor of your drink. You won't taste it and it really works! You can also put a little salt in your coffee grounds if your own machine is producing swill. I found when I was working that a lot of companies don't buy a type of coffee for the office based on flavor, just price, and salt in the grounds will remove the bitterness from the tar they are serving you. My helpful tip for the day!
Anyway, my problems with Starbucks are not just about Starbucks. I can avoid that particular establishment most of the time. The real problem is how their brand has effected coffee everywhere else in America. Now everyone thinks they have to do coffee the same way. Even Burger King just changed their coffee to Seattle's Best or something like that and then altered their brewing style. BK was my favorite drive-thru stop for coffee - it was strong, but not bitter and they always have a hot pot on hand. Now it's more bitter and not really more flavorful. So sad. I also stop at 7-11 a lot because they usually make a great cup of coffee and there are tons of choices. Even during a slow part of the day, 7-11 will have at least 2 or 3 fresh pots of coffee to choose from of which at least one will not be a Seattle type version of overbrewed ickiness.
Starbucks has also caused the price of coffee to skyrocket! Seriously, even the cheapest place to get a cup-to-go will now cost you two dollars or more. I know these businesses aren't paying that much for the beans or grounds, but I suspect that they believe if they charge more for the coffee then we will believe we are getting a better cup. Don't they realize that at Starbucks you aren't paying $8 for the coffee, but for the syrup and sugar and milk and cream - and probably the electric bill for all those gadgets?
As much as I love a cup of coffee that I didn't have to brew, most of the time I settle for the pot of java that my hubby starts for me every morning (isn't he sweet?) and I try not to drink more than the 3/4 of a pot per day that's left after he takes his to-go cup with him to work. I know that's a lot for a normal person and I suppose I'll have to cut back eventually, but it's kind of genetic (my dad and brother can drink even more than I can most days). All bets are off if I leave the house though because if someone has coffee in their home while I'm there, I'll drink it and sometimes I just cruise through a drive-thru for an extra cup while I'm on the run. I always show up with cup in hand wherever I happen to find myself.
All this to say - yesterday I drank double my normal coffee quotient. Two major reasons: First, I failed in a major way attempting to make elaborate floral Christmas bows with wired ribbon at MOPS (one should not attempt this when hormones are high). When nervous, go for the coffee - like my nerves aren't jangled enough - right? And Second - I came home and attempted to put our annual picture Christmas card together. Hours of cropping and blending backgrounds and attempting to remove the huge zit on my forehead that even though concealer hid it in my mirror, Dougie's high resolution camera brought out every single flaw I have. He shot over 200 pics of my family in our home and yet it was incredibly difficult to find shots to work with. Not because he isn't great - he is fabulous! No, the problem was just my family!
Last year's Christmas pictures were disastrous because Scooter was 3 and also doesn't like the pressure so he was either screaming or refusing to look at the camera. This year, Scooter was still stubborn because he's Scooter, but I also had another 3 year old in the house. Even Tyler had his moments of uncooperative behavior because he had already been through picture madness with his other 2 younger siblings in Denton that day. He was tired. Adding to the chaos was my hubby's insistence that he and I actually appear on the card this year, which we haven't done since the year we got married. Oy! Getting a shot with five people looking at the camera at one time, all eyes open and not crying or grimacing at 7 pm on a school night is NOT easy.
We did get some good shots though and I was able to put together a decent card with a collage of photos including all 5 of us and a marginal shot of the kittens back. Turns out that if you ask your preschoolers to bring the cat in for a picture they are much more cooperative than posing on their own. I drank a whole extra pot of coffee yesterday afternoon putting the thing together and looking at all those pictures in serious detail. What I wanted to share with you was a couple of the pictures that did NOT make it into the card. Just a couple of samples of what I was dealing with.
Like this one, where Scooter and Tyler had almost identical grimaces on their faces:
Or samples like this where no one was happy, but Scotty and I kept smiles glued to our faces on the off chance that a picture would turn out decent:
Or I guess I could have used the pics of the back of kids heads:
But, I also had some great moments that Doug captured that won't go in a card either, like these:
All the coffee I consumed helped me plow through, make the cards, pick them up, get them stuffed, labeled and sealed. I can cross one more thing off of my list, I guess. I'd like to say that I'll drink less coffee today, but I'm headed to both my mothers and my mother-in-laws to pick up Christmas yummies that will help fill a care package for my brother-in-law overseas (Airforce) and I know I'll be drinking coffee there too.
It would be so nice if people would stop trying to be Starbucks and just offer regular old coffee. I NEED the coffee. This time of year, getting ready for Christmas, I need gallons of coffee to keep me moving. It's the only way Christmas is getting done.
Hmmmm, look at that - my cup is empty again.
God Bless!
No comments:
Post a Comment