How many types of coffee do we need at work?
The question is not just rhetorical. We recently have gone from four different types to five, and not only are we running out of drawers to store it, it’s taking up a whomping amount of counter space?
Costa Rican. Vanilla Nut (that’s me). French Roast (use 1.5 bags). Euro Blend. Euro Blend Decaf.
(I’ve never quite understood drinking decaf coffee. I mean, nobody actually enjoys the taste of coffee, right? It’s just a caffeine vector, a socially more acceptible way of perking up than slamming back a couple of No-Doz first thing in the a.m. The best you can hope for from coffee is that it doesn’t taste bad. So … what’s up with decaf?)
Are coffee tastes so varies that, Starbucks-like, we need four types of caffeinated coffee? I mean, there are a lot of places where folks have two types — leaded and non- (and the taste of each makes the nomenclature not all that much of a joke). I can see, if you want to get extravagant, having a light roast and a dark roast (though sufficient use of sugar and cream can resolve that, too, in a pinch).
It’s just an odd extravagance in a company that is notoriously tight-assed thrifty about overhead expenditures.
Heck, we get half-n-half in the fridge, rather than being subjected to the indignities of Ersatz Oil-Based Coffee “Creamer” Substitutes.
Not complaining about that one.
On a couple of occasions in the past, I visited our Dublin office. Where they have … the Tea Lady.
Veddy European. You can have tea … but when we say so. And you can impose on someone else to make it for you. And we can employ an extra person that way.
On the other hand, it taught me that communal stirring spoons, rather than little plastic stir sticks, are the way to go.
No point here, mind you. Just ruminations on what gets me through the day.
One of the things I missed on my e-mail was some early notification of