Thursday, Jun. 11, 2009

Coffee talk and such

For those who still go to Starbucks... I am with you. The buttery goodness of a Grande Caramel Frappuccino is definitely worth not topping off your gas tank.

Unlike my fixation with Mountain Dew, I don't overly indulge in frappuccinos to the point of exhaustion. I reward myself with a couple a month, although the number has alarmingly been going up...

But what it really is, is the caramel on top of the whipped cream. I might as well buy a bottle of caramel and a can of whipped cream and just call it good. But nothing beats drinking a third of the frap, taking off the lid and scooping up the syrupy goodness with your straw.

For some reason, Starbucks is really pushing their caramel frap right now. I'm not complaining, as long as it doesn't cost me more than $4. That's eight 50-cent Mountain Dews from the company vending machine I'm exchanging for just one frap.

I recently looked up the calories in a 16 oz frap and it was not pretty. 15 grams of fat. 380 calories. 9 grams of saturated fat. 240 mg of sodium. The only plus side is there's no trans fats. Woohoo - one out of 10...

Mr. Big suggested I try a frap made with soy milk. I obliged, even when the barista warned that it may not come out with the right consistency. I ignored the red flag and proceeded to the first window.

The second red flag was that the drink was handed to me with no whipped cream (probably because they figured if I wanted soy, I probably wouldn't want cream). I took my first sip and gave Big the sad puppy eyes. It wasn't the same at all. It was still warm and tasted like plain coffee with chocolate bits in it. To any normal coffee drinker, that'd be fine - but I'm part of the I-only-drink-coffee-if-it-doesn't-taste-like-coffee group. It's a very picky niche.

Big ended up downing the drink himself and I got a 1 liter Dew instead. We both won.

The following morning I stopped by the Starbucks on 395 and went with the regular caramel frap with 2 percent milk. The barista asked me if I wanted extra caramel syrup. I nodded in excitement as he proceeded to completely cover the whipped cream in a blanket of caramel. As we made chit chat, my eyes bulged out a bit at the sight of the caramel tunneling down through the actual frap along the sides of the cup. This was the best barista I had ever had and a great way to make up for the previous days catastrophe.

On a side note, people argue that Starbucks makes crap coffee and has an unfair monopoly on the coffee industry. I don't disagree. But I don't drink regular coffee, so I wouldn't know if they roast the beans correctly, and I don't really care if they have a monopoly because unlike Walmart, they aren't hurting people by denying them benefits or unfairly firing their workers. Worry about the industrialized prison complex before you start complaining about coffee. I have a feeling that the people who care that much are probably still filling their cars with oil from the middle east and not choosing to ride their bikes to work...

Also, check out Chase & The Reach at 8 p.m. this Friday, June 12, 2009 at The Lounge in Richland when they perform with Brazen Layver for FREE. The band will be filming concert footage for their upcoming DVD.

Find out more about the guys and see their Patio Session.

The Lounge is located at: 1124 Stevens DR. Richland, 99352

For more information, go to www.myspace.com/chaseandthereach