Nothing seems to warm a person up on a cold day like a hot cup of coffee, or at least that’s what my dad said when he filled up his Thermos each morning. But each time I tried a sip of his coffee, it tasted like dirty water.

I never understood the attraction, and whenever a friend or customer wanted to meet for coffee, I would embarrassingly order a hot chocolate — until my friend Joe convinced me to slowly wade into this ocean of java. Yes, Joe is a pusher.

Joe introduced me to cappuccinos, lattes, macchiatos, mochas and more, and I learned these things are sinful. After taking out a small loan and going to the next notch on my belt, I decided maybe these cousins of coffee were not such a good idea for me. So I took a necessary hiatus — until my daughter Samantha familiarized me with dairy creamer. Not the basic stuff, mind you. French vanilla. Italian sweet creme. Peppermint mocha. I was hooked again.

While at an industry conference, my friend Will watched me pour a cement truck load of creamer into my coffee. Will, a definite coffee snob, helped me come to the realization that I didn’t like coffee at all and that what I really liked was coffee creamer. He was right. If you have done any research on this, you know coffee creamer is awful for you, but the addiction is real.

So I tried going cold turkey with creamer, but I was instantly reminded of the dirty-water taste of Dad’s coffee. I tried cutting back on creamer, which isn’t easy to do when it pours out so quickly and easily from that perfectly contoured 32-ounce bottle. Then my wife encouraged me to try milk and a bit of honey in my coffee instead. So I tried milk and more than a bit of honey — and it was delicious. I am working on reducing the honey, but she tells me it is better for me than dairy creamer, so I am going with the lesser of two evils.

Now, nothing seems to warm me up on a cold day like a hot cup of coffee — with milk and honey.

Our open house is Wednesday

I hope you can stop by and join us for our community open house tomorrow (Wednesday, Nov. 13) from 4-6:30 p.m. at our new location in Guthrie Center at 104 Industrial Road. Enjoy some drinks and snacks and tour our updated facility. The event is open to anyone and everyone.

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707