Has Bean

     I have been trying to build up a tolerance to coffee, as if it was poison because, at my age, what I lack in energy, I need to make up in caffeine, but it was just too bitter. Back when doctors considered coffee drinking a health hazard--bad breath, warts, tumors, etc. were all caused by coffee (unlike pregnancy, which is caused by alcohol)--I felt virtuous about my coffee intolerance. Why should I force myself to drink something that's not good for me anyway? But now the same doctors say all those problems are caused by not drinking enough coffee. Three cups a day is optimal. It is truly a bitter pill to swallow. I like frozen, blended coffee drinks like frappes, but they are more like coffee bisque, like a barista waved  a coffee bean over the mixture and then threw it away, or fed it to the real coffee drinkers. Eventually, I drank enough frappes to qualify for "perks" at a nearby City Brew coffee shop. That's when the experimentation began. I moved from frappes to the hard stuff--granitas, a frappe without the milk. I had established a liphold on cold drinks, but I knew true coffee drinkers like it hot.
     Then one day I got a text from my City Brew pusher offering a half priced Cafe Bianco and, in a fit of frugality, my cheapness overcame my coffobia and I ordered one. Bianco means white, the white in this case, meaning cream. Lots of cream. I discovered I liked it. Then I discovered that when it is not half price, it costs $4.35. I don't have enough green for that much white. It is like staying at a luxury resort. Nice place to visit, but you can't live there.
     Right now I am visiting Portland while my husband is here for work. We are staying at a Hampton Inn that offers 24 hour Royal Cup coffee. On a whim (and because it was free) I tried it, and discovered that with enough half and half and a shot of creamer, it is not bitter. It is also not commercially available, so my non-bitter end will be check out time tomorrow. But I have also heard that real, from Columbia, coffee is not bitter and that they sell it at Trader Joe's. All I know about the store is that when Montana friends see a Trader Joe's bag, they get excited, even envious. I would like to be he object of bag envy, so I bought a bag and even found some coffee to go in it. All their coffee is whole bean, and I obviously do not own a grinder, but they had one at the store. Getting to use their coffee grinder, made the experience even more fun, like a kid playing with a new toy. I'll have to wait till I get back home to taste the coffee because the room coffee maker only uses odd sized packets, but who knows where this may end. I may become a coffee drinker and finally feel like a grown up. My grandparents, who regarded refusing coffee as a breach of manners, would have been so proud. This never was/has been almost has bean.