good cup, bad cup

Ahhhh. Love a clever pun.

The subject, however, is kind of serious. Especially for those of us (ie. moi) who take our coffee seriously. Was reading this report, put out by the Centre for Science in the Public Interest, on the amount of fat and calories in specialty coffee. Quite horrifying.

Fortunately for me, I don't have to change my habits. I always order a large latte with skim milk, no sugar. And no whip cream, sprinkles, etc.

Can probably thank Bruce for that. It's weird how often I can think of things to thank him for. Maybe because adversity has made me a much stronger person. And a kinder, more forgiving person too, I think.

But back to the coffee. Years ago, in the impressionable days of my youth, artschoolcool Bruce made me many, many cups of coffee. Cafe au lait done the real French way. Probably taught to him by his real French mother. Coffee press, scalded milk. Then he got a espresso machine and we moved on to lattes. Many, many lattes. Good, real European-style lattes, not the dessert coffee that so many places sell.

I never developed a taste for sweet coffee (though near the end of our relationship, Bruce insisted on putting large spoons of sugar in my cup... won't go into the psychology of that just now) but I did develop a taste for fresh, slightly bitter, piping hot java.

More recently, I also developed a taste for fair trade, organic coffee. Things at age 19 that never occurred to me I should consider. Now that's all I drink at home. Having coffee out is a bit trickier. Starbucks is North America's largest purchaser of fair trade coffee (according to them) but if you buy a coffee at Starbucks, it probably isn't fair trade unless you ask for it. Here in Brandon, even asking for it isn't necessarily enough. They sell the beans, but don't expect them to brew up a pot just because you want some. The Organic Consumers Association is urging action to challenge Starbucks to live up to their propaganda. I just don't bother going to Starbucks, period.

Milk? Well that's another post entirely. But there is some scary info on the OCA site if you're interested.