I can't believe my husband awoke on Saturday morning and uttered THE words that he did. Like "HE who cannot be named," I thought there was a clear, albeit, unspoken understanding that we would not be mentioning this, especially on the dawn of what could be a very promising, adventurous weekend. Why didn't he bring up someother acidic topics... like the credit card bill, or did I really need to bring 3 toilet brushes, but no pencil sharpener from the US? What did he say, you ask? I can barely type the words. He said, "I wish I had a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee right now." Ugh! How I wish I had a nice hot cup a joe from DD.
We both love to drink coffee. It doesn't have to be a fancy unprouncable sugary latte grande whatever Moccaliatochino-whatever. I'm a simple girl, really. A nice hot DD coffee, 1/2 regular 1/2 decaf with extra skim milk in a large white styrofoam cup was my joy. I would sometimes have it for breakfast, or as my liquid lunch, and always on the weekend when one of us were out running errands, we would pick up two, and enjoy it as our our "afternoon delight."
My cupa Joe became a faithful companion in the months before the move. I believe it made me more efficient too. I would pick up a cupa Joe, leave it in the car, and quickly complete my errands as to return to the car to enjoy it before it turned cold. Like many Americans, I would walk around town with my little cupa Joe, and savor it. My health club offered free coffee, and I would consider it my reward after a good workout.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways... Piping hot, it was a cozy blanket in the ever cold Chicago climate. It was a companion whilst running errands, a time filler when there was 15 minutes before I needed to be somewhere. It was a reward for a workout well done. It was a low-cal celebratory dessert alternative. It was nice, warm, and smooth.
Here in Zurich, the people do not have the same relationship with coffee as my generation did in the US; this is a bit of a wham-bam coffee culture. There are loads of cafes and people seem to take their coffee seriously. Coffee is served in very small portions. It's a tease and in the US there would be class action lawsuits over false advertising. No matter what size coffee you order, the container is only 1/2 filled. Where's the rest of it? Expresso-type coffee seems quite popular. People will basically just buy a shot-glass sized serving of expresso and drink it hot and fast and be done with it. What's wrong with lingering over a lovely hot cup filled to the rim, for awhile?
There are several Starbucks around the Zurich area. Once when I went in, and explained my dilemma. I am an American and I wanted a coffee to go. The barrister understood, and gave me a full cup of coffee. The problem is that it was still that bitter European coffee - and full caffeine. As it turns out, I struggled to drink it, and could barely manage half....and that I did because it cost $6. I've never been a fan of Starbucks coffee in the US, and don't imagine I will ever develop a taste for it here in Zurich.
We have struggled with coffee on the homefront as well. I bought 2 large Costco sized bags of DD ground coffee and thought they were shipped here to Zurich, but they seem not to have arrived. I do not know if they were absconded by the moving men, who I imagine would just be finishing the bags up right about now, or whether we accidentally dropped them into our storage locker, or donated them. I also brought loads of Costco's Starbuck's Instant Via packets, and occasionally use them. Interestingly, I do not care for Starbuck's fresh coffee, but I do enjoy their Columbian Via. I saw that Starbucks was introducing a new variety of fun Via flavors infused with vanilla, and caramel before I left, but didn't have the chance to try them.
We've worked the coffee angle at home with mixed results. We bought a new Swiss regular coffeemaker upon our move, but seemed to have burned that out rather quickly. We are not sure what happened exactly, but it seems that we picked up the wrong filter size, and perhaps that contributed to short circuiting the machine ? Makes no difference because when one door closes, another opens. We decided we would buy a lovely Nepresso machine. This is one of those cartridge type coffee machines that makes hot frothy milk. It is lovely, plus it looks great, matching our red kitchen. The first few days we had it, I would go to bed and think, "oh good, I can have a nice hot cup of coffee with frothy milk in the morning!" It made getting out of bed so much more enjoyable. Of course, the Nepresso machine barely fills the cup 1/2 full, so we press the button again, doubling the size but making it less intense, which is perfect for us.
Well, the church bells are ringing, telling me its time for my cupa joe!
No comments:
Post a Comment