AT HOME: The Taste of Coffee
A one-cup drinker spills the beans on everyone's favorite addiction.
By Loraine Page
COLUMNIST
I’m not what I consider a real coffee drinker, those folks who know their roasts, they have a Starbucks app on their phone, and they see a cup of coffee as a type of dessert.
I’m not in that space, only an observer of it, with many things I don't even understand. I actually had to ask someone what a latte is – simply an espresso with steamed milk, is what I was told.
Yet, I have a coffee addiction. One cup of instant coffee in the morning – that’s the extent of my coffee drinking, yet I have to have it. This was brought to my attention recently when I ran out of “my coffee,” a particular brand of Starbucks called VIA Instant, and couldn’t find it anywhere.
In a rash move, I purchased – from one of the supermarkets I usually buy my VIA Instant from – a different Starbucks instant coffee. This one is called Premium Instant. I knew it wouldn’t take the place of “my coffee,” which I’d been drinking for years, but I trusted – kind of – that it could fit the bill until I could figure out what was going on. Was Starbucks discontinuing VIA Instant?
When I thought Premium Instant could fit the bill in the interim, I was being, perhaps, a bit naive at the time. I had grown used to a certain taste and, let's face it, a certain amount of caffeine content.
I drank the Premium Instant, which came loose in a can unlike Instant VIA which comes in handy packets with your serving already sized for you. I scooped it into a cup each morning for two days, the second day with a larger scoop than the first.
I hated it. I hated the color – it was a lighter brown. I hated the taste. It reminded me of the instant, cheap coffees people used to drink way, way long ago.
However, I wasn’t feeling well. And it concerned me. I was in a fog, I was sleepy. I wondered if I was coming down with the flu. Or was it the pollen? Meteorologists said we were blanketed with pollen now even though we couldn’t see it. Maybe I was just anemic.
On the third day, after drinking my miserable cup of Premium Instant, I received what I now believe was an intuitive message: Go back to the supermarkets. Maybe they have your coffee now.
I went, and they did. I grabbed all of the boxes, which only totaled five. Four were Italian Dark Roast, one was Colombia Medium Roast. I bought out the store, as they say.
That bothered me a bit. Is this me? Is this how I react in emergencies, in disappearances of food items on a large scale. I hoped not.
You’ve probably guessed that my unwellness, which had lasted three days, was due to caffeine withdrawal. Yes, I loved the taste of my VIA Instant, but my physical body was relying on this product's specific caffeine content. Starbucks Premium Instant wasn't up to the task. Dare I label it weak?
I’m a coffee addict. I’m addicted to one of its components, which is caffeine – a drug. Coffee is the drink with the most amount of caffeine worldwide. Tea has some caffeine, sure, but not enough to cause definable withdrawal symptoms.
I was married for 20 years to a non-stop coffee drinker. At home he drank instant, which he microwaved because it’s faster than boiling water. Droplets from his full cup dotted our beige carpet. At work there was a coffee maker. His boss told me the same drips could be found on their beige carpet.
I had friends, one a photographer, the other a yoga instructor. I would spend the day happily taking pictures with the former, except when it was time for him to get coffee again. The other was so Zen as my yoga teacher, but not as my friend who I took walks with. Then it was a race to her favorite coffee shop.
In my marriage and in these friendships, I was the observer, wondering what came over them.
My escapade, which ended with the knowledge that I too was addicted to coffee, occurred a little over a week ago. I don't know if I’ll face shelves empty of my favorite coffee drink again, but now I’ll know better how to deal with it.
It might take me driving to Starbucks and ordering a real cup of coffee first thing every morning. But it’ll be only one cup a day. Some things don’t change.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:
First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.
First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.
First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project
Our media group also offers the most-extensive election coverage in the region and regular columnists like:
And our newsroom is led by the most-experienced and most-awarded journalists in the region — Adele Uphaus (Managing Editor and multiple VPA award-winner) and Martin Davis (Editor-in-Chief, 2022 Opinion Writer of the Year in Virginia and more than 25 years reporting from around the country and the world).
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”