Tuesday, April 27, 2010

One way to stop spending.

(sigh) I decided to treat myself to Caribou Coffee this morning. There had been a coupon in the paper for $1.00 off a beverage and I was running late. It's been a good 3 1/2 weeks since I used the last coupon and that was for breakfast I could expense.

I got my 2 blackberry white chocolate chunk scones and ordered Assam tea. The gal behind the counter said they had changed their teas and Assam was no longer being offered. I looked and Irish Breakfast was gone, too. It seems others were removed from the menu but those were the two I ordered a lot.

In their place have come lattes, chai and what I can only term "designer" teas. They have caramel, vanilla, pomegranate flavors. What the...? Herbal teas are infusions made by pouring boiling water over something other than the leaves. I could see pomegranate and vanilla as you could use flowers, roots, bark even, to steep to make a tea. But caramel?

And what's with all the milk-infused beverages? Chai is milk infused tea, which is how most of the world drinks their tea. Spices are also added to the chai and those spices vary region to region.

Latte, is usually coffee with milk. Variants can include replacing the coffee with chai. But, taken literally, that means you have milk tea mixed with milk. Huh?

Whatever the case, I was severely disappointed in Caribou when I stopped. I got Darjeeling; that was still on the menu as is Earl Grey. The scones I like were still in the case but they were dry and crumbly, not moist as usual.

What I think life is telling me is that I no longer need to spend $5.63, with coupon, for breakfast. I have a tea kettle. It's a simple thing to turn it on when I hop into the shower or while I'm making breakfast. I have Huckleberry, green, Lapsang Souchong, chocolate hazelnut, Christmas spice, China Black, English Teatime and Scottish Blend sitting in the window sill behind the stove. If I squeeze the budget, I can get a box of Darjeeling or Irish Breakfast at the grocery.

I used to stop at Caribou once a week. They got to know me. Then October came and I didn't go for 6 weeks. That's kind of my frequency lately. Roughly every 6 weeks unless I knew I could expense it to a client. When you need to cut to the bare minimum, things like breakfast out must go. Still, it was a nice affirmation of me. Dunkin' Donuts makes good tea. Plus, if I add 2 donuts, the cost for breakfast there is $3.18 instead of the $6.53 without coupon of Caribou. But I don't need donuts and I have to get up earlier to get going if I want Dunkin' as it's the opposite direction of the office.

Therefore, the cosmos is telling me that breakfast is best eaten at home. I have the capabilities to make and freeze pancakes when can then be just nuked in the morning. Or dig out the waffle iron and make Mickey Mouse-shaped waffles. So many ideas. Coffee cake and my every popular muffins.

Goodbye Caribou. It was nice. Bring back real tea and not these "affected" drinks and I'll be back, not as much as I used to, but I'll come back.

Beverage: my last Caribou tea-Darjeeling

Deb

1 comment:

  1. It's like when Phillip and I go out and happen to stop at a cafe. All they have is chai or regular tea. There's also hot chocolate and different coffees. I prefer tea and since I make regular tea at home, the only option available is chai. It seems to be that way to whichever cafe I've gone to in Melbourne (in Australia). The choice is limited.

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