The third place

Starbucks is making no money off of me. I don’t often drink coffee. I’ll have the occasional cup if we go out for breakfast on the weekend but I don’t normally drink it. The only time I drank it regularly was when I worked at a printing place and pop was $1 and coffee was $0.25.

To me, I usually add enough sugar to the coffee until it is saturated – in that the crystals will no longer dissolve in the hot liquid. Then, by adding milk, it cools the coffee slightly and makes the solution supersaturated. The last sip of this is very thick and one can actually chew the grains of sugar in it.

Of course, this taste was acquired in university when one needed the extra energy from the sugar to add to the caffeine. Jolt cola had been out back then. When the cola conglomerates were starting to advertise caffeine-free colas, Jolt’s ad campaign was “All of the sugar, and twice the caffeine.”

My standard amount now is four heaping teaspoons of sugar in a cup of coffee. With that much sugar, I’m not really noticing the fine flavor of the coffee or the distinct differences in the roast variations. Certainly not enough to spend almost $5 on a cup of joe.