Coffee

I embrace change. I enjoy variety. Most of the time, anyway.

But I found out the hard way, though, that if something isn’t broke, you shouldn’t try to fix it. I made a mistake. I ordered a nonfat, sugar free latte.

I should explain. I prefer my daily coffee strong and black. A good friend from college once referred to my coffee as battery acid, but I don’t think it’s that bad — honest. In the afternoon, usually looking for a bit of a jolt with some extra nutrition, I head down to the coffee shop downstairs and order a skim latte. If I’m feeling wild and crazy, I add a dash of cinnamon and maybe a pinch or two of nutmeg.

I never ever deviate from this order — until last Friday.

I found myself trolling through the break room around 3 p.m., hoping a stray baked good would be leftover from a catered lunch. No such luck. Plenty of leftover lunchmeat, but no desserts. It’s probably for the best. I caved earlier this week and ordered a taco salad for lunch (complete with the fried shell and a glob of sour cream).

I still wanted something sweet and I was planning to order my usual latte as a pick-me-up, so I decided to have flavored syrup added to my usual. I debated between ordering a regular vanilla latte or a sugar-free one. My desire to at least make “healthier” choices won out, and I ordered the skim, sugar free vanilla latte.

I was happy in my decision until I took a sip. Suddenly my favorite latte had the aftertaste of cheap cough syrup and it was icky sweet.

Blech.