Confession Friday - Cup Size Matters

It is impossible, in our condition of Society, not to be sometimes a Snob. ~ William Makepeace Thackery


For today's Confession Friday - I am a snob.

Part One:  COFFEE AND ME = BEST BUDS 
 

I have a long running relationship with coffee.  One of my first clear memories is of my paternal grandfather giving me coffee to drink for the first time despite the protests coming from my grandmother.  Laden with sugar, more milk than coffee, in my own cup, that first serving of coffee had me hooked.  Grandpa's coffee for adults could grow its own legs and walk off, it was that strong.  And he drank it black.  When I finally reached the age that my dad reasoned that coffee wouldn't stunt my growth, I was granted membership into the family's Great Coffee Society.  There is nothing like a rite of passage with all its grown-up implications.  Coffee and I could openly be a couple.

  

And then I married Ed.  If I thought MY family were coffee enthusiasts, his family were addicts.  His mother, God rest her soul, would even drink INSTANT coffee to get her fix. Now that, my friends, is a true addict.  From the moment her feet hit the floor to the second her head hit the pillow, she had a coffee cup in her hand.  She must have consumed copious amounts of coffee while she was pregnant with Ed, because I have never seen a man love his coffee more than he.  I have often wondered what would happen if he had to make a choice - me or his coffee!

He received a T-shirt from one of our daughters and son-in-law that reads: "Never get between me and my coffee."  And if  THAT doesn't sum up Ed's passion for brewed caffeine, I don't know what would.  Except maybe, "Forget the cup, give me a syringe so I can shoot coffee directly into my veins!"
 
During our first 30 years of marriage, we drank coffee the old fashioned way - brewed at home.  I remember when we got our first Mr. Coffee.  No more percolator, even though I miss the sound a percolator makes as it pushes the water up through the metal tube and over the ground beans.  However, I didn't miss the grounds that always seemed to escape the basket, settling into the brew and making its way to the bottom of the cup.  Such is modern life....coffee quick and easy.  But little did I know that the Mr.Coffee phenomenon was the precursor to what was about to take America by storm. 
 
Part Two:  A POWERFUL SEDUCTRESS
 
"Starbucks says they are going to start putting religious quotes on cups. The very first one will say, 'Jesus! This cup is expensive!' "~ Conan O'Brien

Never, thought I, never will I pay a $1.50 for a lousy cup of coffee and on top of that, go to a place that only sold coffee.  I had seen the news stories of people waiting in line to place an order for a cup of coffee.  It was just coffee, for Pete's sake. Who in their right mind?...... That was my reaction when Starbucks was establishing themselves across the country.  Who would do that when for 50 cents you could go to Waffle House or McDonald's and get a cup of Joe?  Not to mention that Starbucks has its own lingo to learn, as in  "give me a Grand decaf skinny cinnamon dolce latte."  Pre-Starbucks innocence was mine and I blissfully lived in ignorance.  Until....

We moved.  Down the road, 4.3 miles from my house to be exact, was the notorious place that made me a coffee whore.  A Starbucks, a Million Dollar producing Starbucks establishment, a BIG Starbucks.  I went into that Starbucks a few weeks after our move like a lamb to slaughter.  They had me at the door.  The smell, that heavenly, divine aroma of freshly brewed coffee made from richly roasted beans, unlike anything I could produce at home and certainly couldn't obtain at Waffle House or Micky D's.  Not only did Starbucks provide the elixir, they also provided big comfy chairs, newspapers, cool music piped overhead - what's not to love?  And then my relationship with coffee and Starbucks took another turn in the road....

 My youngest daughter, Lane, up and fell in love with a wonderful Canadian young man, who proceeded to woo her, lured her to Vancouver, BC and promptly married her.  Her first and only real job there for the past 5 years has been - you guessed it - at a Starbucks.  In Vancouver, Starbucks are just about on every corner.  Lanie loves working for Starbucks and they have treated her well.  So now there is another incentive to give Starbucks my business.  Might as well support the business that helps support my daughter and her Canadian and keep it all in the family! Starbucks, what a hold you have on me.  Which brings my confession to snobbery.....

Part Three:  HARD CORE STARBUCKS

"Starbucks represents something beyond a cup of coffee." ~ Howard Shultz

As if all the above weren't enough, Starbucks sells all sorts of wares to enhance the coffee experience, including snacks, pastries, and espresso machines, to name a few.  I am partial to coffee mugs - STARBUCKS coffee mugs.  I have dozens of coffee cups in my cupboard.  Until Starbucks and I were united, I was happy with my run-of-the mill mugs and I was pretty much content to drink out of any of them.  Have you ever held a Starbucks coffee mug and felt the weight, the size, the thickness, the balance it offers to the coffee lover?  Well, I have and it is not a pretty picture if none of mine at home are available to use should Ed brew a pot of coffee (made from Starbucks ground beans, of course) at night or on the weekend.  I have been known to grab a mug from the dishwasher rack dirty and rinse it out instead of using a non-Starbucks issue cup.  When I enter a Starbucks, I linger at the display racks, lusting for the newest designs.  I look for them at Goodwills and yard sales.  I have a few mugs that aren't Starbucks that give me the same feeling and I love them for sentimental reasons.  They are my fall-back mugs, wanna-be Starbucks... close, very close.

So, once again, I have confessed.  I am a total Starbucks fan and snob. Terrible, I know, but that is the unmitigated truth.  I plan on enjoying every drop of Starbucks coffee I can reasonably consume. Life is short.  There is pleasure to be found in even the simplest of things, even a cup of joe.  Remember this: "Life's enchanted cup sparkles at the brim." ~ Lord Byron.  I must close now.  I can smell the coffee brewing downstairs and I need a fix.