Room for Cream??

As some friends and (possibly) regular readers of this blog will know, when it comes to living in the US and hot drinks, i'm walking the fine line between two stereotypes - that of the hyper caffeine-addicted Americans (who basically need coffee to get through the day. A lot) and the archetypal tea-sipping British Gentleman (Of which my american friends tell me that i am definitely not. A gentleman that is, although im sure some of them aren't quite convinced i'm British as i don't sound like Hyacinth Bucket). Anyway, i usually balance things out quite well by indulging in a coffee around mid-day (if at all) whilst the rest of the time, generally relaxing with a nice brew (of late, i have been extolling the virtues of Earl Grey to some of my lab mates - to generally positive effects. Just goes to show that people will have anything if it's free!).

However, on one of my many trips to the coffee shop - last week, i seemed to be at Starbucks an awful lot, mainly as this was where my workmate's daughter would go after school and i would pick her up from. With all this, i noticed something of a strange thing. Naturally, it's a standard thing to be asked if you want room for cream - I always do as i rarely drink coffee black (unless it has a wee bit of sugar or honey in) - and i nearly always get a cup that is full to the brim with coffee with scant millimetres (resisted putting 'meters')....no, micrometres of room left to put anything in at all. Even a good dose of sugar would probably push the coffee over the brim through weight alone. Preferring skimmed milk or, at the very least, semi-skimmed, i find that topping it up still leaves a drink that looks as thick as mud. Even one time when i accidentally added whole milk, this had little effect. Now, far be it from me to tell people how to drink their coffee, but i for one don't like a drink that resembles jet fuel both in colour and taste. Unless it IS jet fuel but that's another story (I'm kidding, Mum, before you start worrying). One of these days, though, i'll probably just snap. Look for the headlines of 'Hostage situation in Starbucks over cream issue' and you'll know what happened!!