My Coffee Love Affair

I have a deep dark confession: I am a terrible New Englander when it comes to my coffee of choice. That’s right; I am an avid Starbuck-ian. Not Dunkin' Donuts - Starbucks. I don’t get aggressive over it, I try not to claim Starbucks is better than Dunkin' Donuts (but, it totally is) and at least three times a week, I grace the downtown East Greenwich Starbucks with my caffeine-junkie self. They’re beginning to recognize me.

Whenever I tell a New Englander that I prefer Starbucks over Dunkin' Donuts, I get a gasp and a horrified, "W-w-what do you MEAN?"

Hear me out: I don’t drink straight coffee, I go all girly with the low-fat Mocha-Frappe-Latte-Mochachino-Macchiato thingies. And I love them. It’s an excellent burst of energy to get me through my afternoon. But, I have to give a small nod to Dunkin' here, I have heard that their actual, brewed coffee is much better than Starbucks. I have yet to compare. I’m still in the early stages of coffee-loving. It will progress, I’m told, into straight shots of espresso and black coffee. I’m not really looking forward to that. I love the whipped cream and chocolate drizzles and all the fun things that come with my favorite caffeinated beverage that week. 

Right now? I’m super into the caramel macchiato. Hot or iced - it's not too bitter, but not too sweet either. Also, the pumpkin lattes are good too, they aren’t especially pumpkin-y, which I appreciate. This love affair started when I was in seventh or eighth grade. I think eighth. Divya Mahadevan introduced me to my first ever Starbucks drink: An iced mocha frappe. We were on the bus, exhausted, on a school ski trip, and we shared the frappe in the food court of some rest area in Vermont. Honestly, it wasn't some sort of epiphany for me. I didn’t like it. Not at first, anyways. Only after I tried it again when I got home did I really start to think, hey, this isn’t too bad. Famous last words.  

I’ve kept an open mind. I do like Felicia’s - it’s our very own local coffee joint, and they have some amazing muffins and pastries. But Starbucks wins, all around, sorry to say, my native New Englanders.

I honestly don’t want coffee to become a necessity for me, or a habit. But I might as well give up hope now, along with the entire population of my school, forever quitting Starbucks, or any other coffee joint, cold turkey. It’s not happening. I’m going to remain a closet-Starbucks drinker for the rest of my days.

“I don’t know how people live without coffee, I really don’t.” - Martha Quinn

Until next week!

Rachel