This post is caffeine free
Generally speaking, I'm a coffee hater. There are a handful of Starbucks locations nearby, I've never stepped foot in any of them. I don't hate coffee drinkers, you all are great. Love ya, don't ever change. But as one who thinks coffee tastes disgusting and avoids socialization like the plague*, coffee shops do nothing for me. Besides, while caffeine doesn't bother me, I had always taken the stance that if I was that tired that I needed assistance to be kept awake, then I should be sleeping.
Then last year (coincidentally, around the time my kid was born), I really found out what it meant to be tired. Suddenly, a little boost of caffeine didn't sound like such a bad idea. So I went to the coffee shop at my workplace. I tried to find something that didn't taste like coffee, but would still give me the needed boost. The problem was, everything in the coffee shop tasted and smelled like coffee. So I found my drug of choice in the nearby vending machine: almond amaretto cappuccino. (I'm sensing the collective cringe of real coffee drinkers everywhere when they read "vending machine.")
Not too long ago, the vending machine inexplicably decided to stop vending properly, so I got out of the habit of drinking them. It forced me to find a new favorite, french vanilla cappuccino from the cafeteria. It wasn't as good, but it still didn't taste like coffee, so it was A-OK with me.
On Monday, I noticed that the "French Vanilla" label was replaced with a label that said "Pumpkin." I wasn't actually there for cappuccino at the time, so I didn't give it much thought. I just thought it was a mistake. Well, this morning, I went back. And it still said "Pumpkin." So for giggles, I ordered pumpkin cappuccino. It was fantastic.
While "pumpkin cappucino" may not be a big deal to coffee shop regulars, make no mistake that the mere existence of such a beverage boggles my mind. And the fact that it both exists AND tastes good just about rocked my world. If pumpkins and cappuccino can get together and make such a tasty tasty beverage, it makes me think there's hope for this crazy world.
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* I've never actually had instance to avoid the plague, so this is just speculation. I avoid socialization just like I would imagine that I would avoid the plague.
Comments
Cate said:
MMmmmm. Now I have to go see if Starbucks has their Pumpkin Spice Latte yet.
jasmine said:
i think you'd love the toffee nut lattes at starbucks...
try them this fall...
RaJ said:
You see where this is heading, don't you? How long before the Pumpkin flavor gets disappeared and replaced by something far more mundane? Six weeks? Eight? Be careful, man. These people play for keeps. Give them half a chance and they'll have you so strung out you won't care WHAT swill they dispense when the Pumpkin goes away, as long as it FEEDS THE NEED. *Shuffles away, all jittery and trembling*
'ka said:
hmm... slowly but sure... soon you'll start ordering caramel macchiato...
Sarah said:
I'm the same as you! I HATE coffee but love the "cappuccino" from gas stations and the vending machines on campus. I tried once from Starbucks once - NASTY - it tasted way too much like coffee. My current favorite here at my work place is "Cookies N Cream Cappaccino."
That's a little cup of heaven right there.
I said:
cate - Enjoy that. But I bet it doesn't compare to my cafeteria pumpkin cappuccino.
jas - I still have no intent to step into a Starbucks. Coffee shop stuff all tastes like coffee. The vending machine stuff doesn't, that's why I like it!
RaJ - If pumpkin ever goes away, I won't be fooled into the next flavor. I'll be writing letters. I'll be raising hell. I'll be -- oh crap, you're right.
'ka - caramel macchiato. Sounds like a stripper's name.
sarah - *high five* I knew someone would understand.
cadiz12 said:
ah omar, i'm right there with you. i always used to just get steamed milk with a shot of almond, because i was convinced coffee was going to be the next cigarrettes, and in forty years we'll all be suing starbucks for giving us some horrible diseases. but i've succumbed. however much i like the macchiatos, mochas and capus, they make me jittery and hyper as hell.
but pumpkin. that's something i've gotta try.
Syar said:
mmmm....steamed milk with a shot of almond, nice.
I'm not a coffee drinker, but that doesn't mean I don't frequent places like Starbucks and the likes. (I'm more a Coffee Bean girl myself). I'm a fan of ice blended and things resembling smoothies. I think its because I'm a teenager, which I also blame for my addiction to Snickers Blizzard at DQ. Pumpkin ....hmmm....we might have to experiment with additives, but I'm willing to see if it'll make some money here in Malaysia.
Viking054 said:
Mmmmm..... Coffee.....
This post was about how much you love coffee, right? I kind of blanked out there...
kelly said:
pumpkin and coffee.. you see there is something out for everyone to love coffee haha
Glo said:
It was touching. I know it's a post about beverages, but it filled me with thoughts of much higher things....like brotherly kindness and whether it is wrong to loot Starbucks after a natural disaster....
Jon said:
I’m not a coffee drinker either. Nor will I ever be. Aside from avoiding the obvious addiction to the caffeine, I just can’t drink anything that’s hot. All warm beverages are out. And that is my opinion. Enjoy. (I don’t have a problem with the smell of coffee though, and that’s why everyone calls me a giant, hypocritical, semantic ass.)
Berrygirl said:
that is how it starts- at first it is with the flavoring, next thing you know you are twitching if you don't have it one morning.
I started with Diamond Shamrock coffee and now it is an everyday thing.
Nadia said:
Um, I don't understand the new poll. Why 15? Was that the least corruptible age you could think of?
Papigiulio said:
hmmz I might give that cappucino a try. I've psoted a item about coffee not long ago aswell. Wot a coincidence :P
http://www.papigiulio.com/2005/09/coffee.html ^^
I said:
Nadia - Age 15 is in reference to Michelle Wie, golfer who is expected to go pro soon. It stirs up great emotion in me (the "should ___ go pro" debate). I'll be posting about it eventually.
papigiulio - Welcome!
DCveR said:
The weird things they sell at starbucks are already strange to real coffee lovers, those like me who drink short espresso, black, but pumpkin and coffee...
Oh well, as long as you enjoy it.