Of Men and Coffee

I thought I would write about something different today.  I want to write about men and coffee and how impressions can be made or not made by choice of coffee drinks.  My friend Sharon started this thought process.  She pinged me the other day and of course I stopped all work to talk to her. 

Sharon asked me what I thought of this situation: She sees a cute guy, cute guy acknowledges her, mild flirtation proceeds.  After a few days of this exchange, cute guy asks her out for coffee.  She agrees.  They go to the nearest SBUX, she orders her latte.  Cute guy orders a fruit smoothie with whip.  A FRUIT SMOOTHIE, at SBUX, with whip nonetheless.  I said, “Really?”  And typical me, I asked the following qualifying question, “Did he ask for some whey protein to add to it?”  Her answer was, “Yes, really.  And no, nothing added.”

I guess I must have written on instant messaging something equivalent to a snort, because Sharon said, “My thoughts exactly.”  She ended the game – completely lost interest in cute guy because of the smoothie order at SBUX.

In another situation, I was at another SBUX on a hot summer day.  I ordered an iced coffee, as did the lady behind me.  Neither one of us heard what the guy in front of us ordered.  All our orders came out about the same time.   I got my iced coffee, the other lady got hers.  The guy in front of us got his order -  a vente mocha frappucino WITH whip.  The lady and I looked at each other and we both said, “Oof.”  I couldn’t remember what the guy looked like, but I do remember the look the lady and I gave each other.

I’ve gotten used to my daily espresso (4 shots), which I turn into a cortado.  I prefer the addition of milk and a bit of sugar to cut the bitterness.  I picked up this cortado habit while in Spain.  An ex once said about my cortado habit that I was wasting coffee.  That ex is drinking tea now (he lives in the UK and essentially pretends to be British). Don’t get me wrong, I drink tea too, but only after I’ve had my cortado in the morning.  I drink tea when I’m sick, have a stomach ache, want to warm up, or when I want to lose weight.  But now that ex-boy is a tea drinker, I don’t wonder about his lack of commitment – I think he’s still single.

One of my favorite people in the world knows my coffee order.  After all these years of not working together,  I met him for coffee the other day.  I was running a little late as usual.  As I approached the café, I see him at a table; he waves to me and lifts my order up to signal that he’s got it covered.  I give him a big hug, I sit down, he hands me my drink, I take a sip and smile. I say to him, “I love a man who knows my coffee order.”

He answers back, “I know.”