Don Senneville and Jim White
The CUP, over these many months, has maintained a constant focus on COFFEE (well, a lot of the time): the idea of coffee, the taste of coffee, the origin of coffee, coffee as revolutionary, being caffeinated by coffee in Carefree, Cave Creek, N. Scottsdale, Italy, Mexico, London. . . . We hope for our readers’ sake that we’ve never strayed too far from that main focus. However, pausing for a second, we wonder if we’ve been too narrow in our view. For example: There’s a whole world of coffee drinkers who’ve found, for one reason or another, that half ‘n’ half is not working for them anymore – a doctor’s orders, a change in taste, sympathy for cows, the need to be healthy, who knows.
A new industry has arisen to meet the needs of coffee drinkers who like to have something in the cup that adds to their coffee, but dairy products are verboten. We must acknowledge the huge market that exists in non-dairy liquids for coffee. There’s oat milk, almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk, and yes, from the 60s, Coffee-Mate, by Nestle. This last has been billed as non-dairy but ironically contains milk-derived ingredients. The Nestle company has met the charge and produced Bliss. Thanks to Ranger Rita for telling us about Bliss.
There is a whole new world of dairy creamers as well, products that are called “creamer” instead of “milk”. Don refuses to go into that world, as it offends his love for half ‘n’ half. But he has done research into non-dairy creamers. So far, he hasn’t found one he likes. We’re still waiting for his research into coffee+liqueur. At this point, his favorite non-dairy creamer is Kahlua. And maybe Baileys Coffee Toffee. Coffee mates for sure. Who’s your coffee mate?
For our money, many of these new products are expensive. Which brings us inexorably back to our discussion about loose change. Death to the penny and nickel! If we eliminate the penny and nickel, we will no longer have use of these often used phrases: “a penny for your thoughts”, “not worth a red cent”, “a penny saved is a penny earned”, “it costs a pretty penny”, “don’t take any wooden nickels”, “a dime a dozen”, “ stopped on a dime”, “don’t nickel and dime me!”, “I feel like a million bucks”…. We are not sure about the age cutoff on the use of these idiomatic expressions. One of our math nerd readers pointed out that in the last article of The CUP, we incorrectly claimed that if we eliminate the penny and nickel, all transactions could end in a 0. We forgot about the quarter! Further research is needed. And why doesn’t a computer keyboard have a key for CENT, a “C” with a “/”? And where can we buy coffee with Bitcoin? Free coffee and a “$10 honor coffee door” at Roc2!
Anyway, money talks. Where else on the planet could we enjoy our morning coffee on an outside stool at Bashas’ Starbucks, overlooking the parking lot where three Bentleys sit in all their glory. The tan one was within 10 feet of our perch. The motor was running and a pair of sockless feet appeared from the back seat. After thinking through several possible scenarios, we came to the conclusion to sit, watch and wait. Rationalizing it as a possible form of very upscale homelessness seemed to help with our consternation. Cognitive dissonance, so to speak. We sat and waited…tired golfer? Yes, thankfully.
Back to the plethora of upscale vehicles in Bashas parking lot: We see Lamborghini SUVs, topless Beemers, monster trucks, landscape trailers, and an occasional tiny Fiat; Mercedes is meh. All beginning drivers should be required to take their driver’s test in this parking lot, and the final assessment would be navigating the 4-way stop in Carefree. A cognitive abilities test for sure.
A penny or nickel for your thoughts at The CUP, [email protected]
