Starbucks

I have a love/hate relationship with Starucks. I do not like their prices. I do not like their politics. I do love their products.

It hasn't always been like that. I never liked Starbucks coffee. My son and I would stop by the Starbucks at Barnes & Noble to buy a Chai Tea Latte once in awihle, usually when one of us had been gifted with extra spending money. If I wanted a regular cup of coffee, I went to McDonald's.

Then it happened. I remember where I was and what I was doing for only a few major events in my life...JFK being shot, Challenger exploding, 9/11, the first time I saw my husband. Hmmm...perhaps the latter should not have been placed with national tragedies.

Anyway, I was at the grocery store on a chilly Autumn day when I decided I needed a hot drink. On the wall of the Starbucks section was a blackboard telling me the coffee of the day. It was Pumpkin Spice. I remarked to the woman behind the counter that Pumpkin Spice sounded terrible. Fortunately, she was someone closer to my age rather than the usual teenager because she nodded and told me she completely understood but also she encouraged me to just...try it. So, I purchased a Tall (aka: small) drink and headed out to do my grocery shopping...and it happened.

There, in the Produce section of the Super Target, I had my first sip of Pumpkin Spice Latte. It is imprinted in my mind forever. This was not coffee, this was an experience. This is why people pay ridiculous amounts of money for ground beans mixed with hot water and a little fizzed cream added. It is not expensive coffee. It is an experience.

I added another vocabulary word to my life after that...Venti.