My love affair with coffee

I went to Starbucks today and they were officially out of Gingersnap Lattes. Which means no Gingersnap Lattes until next year. I had to make do with a Pumpkin Spice Latte instead, and I'm sure in a few weeks I'll have to go back to Vanilla Lattes. It's funny because Gingersnap lattes (or Gingerbread Lattes as they used to be called) were really the first coffee drink I ever really drank.

It was freshmen year at college and a bunch of soccer girls and me all went on a Starbucks run. This was before a Starbucks was built across the street from our college, so we had drive a bit further, I think to one in a Barnes & Nobles. Up until this point I had only drank Frapicinos from Starbucks. But this was Maryland in the middle of winter, and there was snow on the ground and it was freezing outside. So a frapicino was pretty much out of the question. I was always a fan of ginger and of gingerbread, so I figured why not? First sip, I pretty much fell in love.

I had had coffee before. My parents had let me have cups before, but I never really enjoyed it. This was the first time I had actually really enjoyed it. I didn't start drinking it religiously then. It wasn't till I spent a month in France.

The summer before my Sr. year at college I spent 3 weeks, studying abroad in Avignon, in the south of France. I stayed with a host family, and they served coffee every morning. I would put sugar and a little cream in each cup, and it slowly started to grow on me. By the end of the trip I was even able to drink cups of strait espresso! (with a little sugar of course)

When I started Sr. year of college my parents bought me a coffee maker for my dorm. It was a little pod coffee maker that made individual cups of coffee. While at this point I would have enjoyed having the cups of coffee I made with cream, I didn't have a refrigerator at first. And I had to make do with just sugar. While eventually I did get a fridge, it seemed a little silly to buy cream, when it would prob go bad before I drank it, and drinking coffee with just sugar was just fine.

Today I would love to go to Starbucks every morning. Unfortunately, I don't always have the time (or money). So most days I wind up drinking the coffee at work. While it's not the best quality, with a little bit of sugar I'm able to enjoy it!