My Ultimate Fantasy

That's right! It's Wentworth Miller LAYING IN A BED OF COFFEE BEANS!

Dude!

I think I just had an orgasm!

I'm a coffee whore

I’m bad. I’m soooo bad. I have a severe coffee addiction. I got in trouble for this a few months ago because my husband looked at the debit card statement and added up how much I was spending each month on coffee. Woops. I really need to start paying cash.

I just can’t help it. I have been to Caribou four times so far this week. I was addicted to the gingerbread latte, I have tried the falalatte, and then Aaron dropped the other day to drop off my weekly fix, and told me to try the Campfire Mocha. Ohhhhh yeah! I did that today, and it was awesome!! They put chocolate bits and marshmallows on top, which melt down to the bottom. When you get to the bottom, it tastes like a smore. I know I have a tendency to over-use the word orgasmic, but there’s really no other way to describe it.

I need to wear a rubberband on my wrist that I can snap when I want to drive myself to Caribou. This week, Aaron dropped off the Fireside blend of coffee. Eric chose this one. It was good. It wasn’t as strong as the Reindeer blend, and I love strong coffee, so it’s going to be hard to top the Reindeer blend for me. I would say the Fireside was strong, but not bold. I would definitely recommend it.

The great thing about Caribou is that it tastes fresher than any coffee I’ve ever had. Aaron told me that is because Caribou coffee is no more than 14 days old from the point that it is harvested to the point of sale. If they roast it and it sits longer than 14 days, they throw it out, so you always get the freshest beans. That made me wonder how long that stuff in the grocery store sits on the shelf. Hmmm . . . that makes me rethink Maxwell House.

Blessed by Coffee Gods

In case you all didn’t know, I love coffee. I know. Shocker! Even if I had an IV drip of coffee, I would still probably need a four-shot latte before noon. It is the lifeblood in my veins. I mentioned before how I would blog for coffee. Luckily, my friend Aaron, knew I was serious. He now works at Caribou Coffee, after leaving his wonderful job at Hen House where he barely escaped an altercation with a customer (that’s a blog in itself).

Aaron emailed last week and said he had a pound of Caribou’s new Reindeer Blend if I wanted to try it. If?!! Are you freaking kidding me?! He drove it over that afternoon, and we have been enjoying Caribou’s Reindeer Blend for the last few days. Oh, it rocks! It really, really does.

It’s described on their Web site as a classic dark roast holiday blend that is dark, syrupy and smooth.

I love strong coffee (a dark brew), but I really don’t like Starbucks coffee because it is almost bitter, and I drink a lot of coffee. After a four-shot latte at Starbucks, I always have a stomachache. Not cool. You all know that Folger’s sent me some free coffee to try a few weeks ago, and my favorite of theirs was the Lively Columbian. Okay, that was minor league compared to Caribou.

If you like a strong dark roast, you must try Caribou’s Reindeer blend. It’s good. It’s damn good. The aroma alone is enough to make me swoon. Even my husband likes it, and he is not big on the dark roast, but he actually brewed a pot yesterday for himself. Trust me, that’s a good recommendation.

Aaron left a comment on my blog the other day that some of you may have seen. Apparently, he got approval from his manager to hook me up with a pound of coffee a week (!!!) if I would blog about it. Oh yeah, baby!!! Christmas came early this year at my house.

I just thought you all should know why there will be a weekly coffee blog around here. It’s because Aaron is now my dealer and he will be hooking me up with a fix once a week. I’m downright giddy.

In addition, I just about had an orgasm the other day when I tried Caribou’s gingerbread latte. Oh, sweet Lord in heaven, Starbucks only dreams they could make gingerbread lattes this good. Caribou mixes their gingerbread spice with white mocha for their latte. Yum-o! In fact, I feel like jumping in the car right now and heading across town for coffee. Oh what the hell. Off I go for my Gingerbread Latte. I will see you all later. Hope you try out Caribou!

Folger's coffee review

You all may remember my excitement of a couple of weeks ago when I received three pounds of Folger’s coffee in the mail. In return all I had to do was write an honest review for their coffee. How cool is that?!

Now that I have gone through (almost) three pounds of coffee in the last two weeks, I feel I can write a competent review. If nothing else, at least I’m alert!

Folger’s sent me their new Gourmet Selections – Morning Café, Vanilla Biscotti and Lively Columbian. I ripped open the Vanilla Biscotti first. Oh, come on. You would have done the same thing.

The Vanilla Biscotti has a good flavor. I love flavored coffee, but I don’t like the flavor to be so strong that it overpowers the coffee. It's kind of like dumping too much ketchup on your eggs. What’s the point of eating eggs if all you can taste is the ketchup?

Anyway, Vanilla Biscotti was on the verge of overpowering. I liked the flavor, but it was so strong, that I had to mix it with the Morning Café. Then I liked it better because I could actually taste the coffee.

Morning Café was a light flavor, and also good. However, I didn’t notice much difference between this Gourmet Blend and the regular blend of Folger’s coffee. I like Folger’s coffee, and I liked Morning Café, but I don’t recommend spending the extra money on the Gourmet Blend when it tastes the same as the normal Folger’s.

This leaves Lively Columbian. And who doesn’t love a Lively Columbian in the morning? (ba boom ching) Okay, that has been a running joke in the house for a couple of weeks. This one was my favorite of the three. It’s a bold coffee, and I love a strong, bold coffee, mainly because it lasts longer. Since the Columbian is stronger, I don’t have to use as much and it stretches further. A definite plus.

In a nutshell, Vanilla Biscotti – the flavor needs to be toned down. Morning Café – good, but nothing extraordinary. Lively Columbian – a yummy, full-bodied coffee. I am now going to send Folger’s an email and tell them I posted my review. Maybe they’ll send me the Caramel Drizzle and Chocolate Truffle to review. Yum-o!

As a sidenote, I have been on the lookout for my favorite coffee for years now. Is anyone familiar with Einstein Bros? Well, back when they were Bagel and Bagel, their house coffee was a blend called Sweet Columbian. That was the best damn coffee EVER. When they became Einstein Bros, the bagels got smaller, the schmears got more expensive, and they changed to some crappy ass coffee. Since then, I have been on the lookout for a coffee that matched the Sweet Columbian I loved so much. Maybe someday, we will meet again. *sigh*

Happy coffee drinking to all. Perk up and be merry.

Best Day Ever!

What a turn today took! When I woke up this morning (at 3:00 a.m.), I did not have great expectations. I was up most of the night with cranky teething baby my lovely daughter, and I knew I would be exhausted today. My sadist husband “accidentally” woke Georgia up this morning since his goal seemed to be to make as much noise while getting ready for work as he possibly could.

Anyway, the day suddenly took a turn for the better after I realized that blogging pays off!! I received a random e-mail last week from Folger’s coffee. Apparently, I blog sooo much about coffee (sue me, I love my coffee), that they came across my blog somehow. They sent me an email wanting to know if I would be willing to try their Gourmet Selections coffee for free if I would review it honestly on my blog. The only words I saw were free and coffee. Where do I sign up?!

I e-mailed them back and said Abso-freaking-lutely!!, and today a box arrived in the mail. I was expecting the little sample bags that make about one pot of coffee. But no. I got three one-pound bags of their coffee in different blends! Oh yeah, baby!!! That is almost $20 worth of coffee. For. Free! You should have seen my happy dance. It’s like Christmas in September!! Woo hoo!!! So, you can expect my upcoming review of the new Folger’s coffee once I have had the chance to try it!

That was only the beginning of my day along the yellow brick road of happiness. After Georgia and I picked Eli up at preschool, we took off for the credit union. I needed to add the name Discovery Toys to my account. I have a difficult name, and this way people can make out checks directly to Discovery Toys.

We walked into the credit union, and first up – a plate of freshly baked cookies for customers. If only I had brought my free coffee with me! Eli was thrilled! He ate three cookies.

I sat down with Credit Union Mary who informed me that I couldn’t change a personal account into a business account, so I would have to open a new one. Well, crap. But, since the children seemed content (a miracle in itself), I decided to take the time and go ahead and do it. After I got my account set up, CU Mary said, “Oh, I almost forgot. We have a special promotion going on right now.” Apparently, if you open a new account, you get a $25 gift certificate to the Country Club Plaza. Woo hoo! I need new pants. This works out perfect!

But wait! It gets better! CU Mary then asked if I wanted to set up my online banking for that account. If I did that, I got another $25 gift certificate. And the kids were still quiet at this point. I wanted to leap across the desk and kiss CU Mary! So we set up my online account, and she handed me my second gift card. Yippee freaking skippy!!!

She bade me farewell, and I immediately called Eric and informed him of my good fortune. When he gets home from work, we are going to celebrate by drinking our free coffee and planning how to spend our $50. Okay, so I already have that part planned. But still – It has been a GREAT freaking day!!!