COFFEE LOG

I drink a lot of coffee. Perhaps too much coffee. When I'm not drinking coffee, I can be found drinking tea, Diet Dr. Pepper, or Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi.

And if I had a theme song, it would probably be "Caffeine Swing" by Hopalong Ginsberg.

Hi. I'm Steve, and I'm a caffeine addict. I was consuming so much caffeine for a while (12-15+ cups of coffee a day) that I started hearing phantom noises and my doctor thought I might be suffering from schizophrenia but cutting back to 5-8 cups a day solved the issue). I tried kicking the habit about ten years ago now, and I went cold turkey. My coworkers placed bets on whether I would survive or not. I did survive, and I was caffeine free for almost five years... until I fell of the wagon. Now, I'm back to drinking 4-8 cups of coffee a day, with the occasional soda added to the mix.

I've always been something of a fru-fru coffee drinker, always adding milk or flavored creamer and often some sweetener or another [Stevia has been my choice of late in that department; it's named after me!].

Yum... coffee!

An independent coffee stand I would go to at 2-3 times a week on my way to work recently went out of business. I began turning to Starbucks, but found the line at the drive-thru to be very annoying, so I thought: "Why not break this habit? Why not make all my coffee at home and save money and perhaps even consume fewer calories and maybe even drop a few pounds?"

This page is a log of whether or not I resisted the siren's call of Starbucks and other retail coffee outlets, on a day-to-day basis. I will also link to reviews of coffee blends posted to the Shades of Gray blog, so you can click on those for more interesting reading!



LINKS TO COFFEE REVIEWS
(40+ flavors and more reviews coming)

Bones Coffee: What the Fluff?!  (most recent Bones review)



RETAIL COFFEE AVOIDANCE LOG (a chronicle of failure)


2021
July 20:  No retail coffee.
July 21:  Large Vanilla Mocha from vending machine at work.
July 22-23: No retail coffee.
July 24: Grande Chai Latte from Starbucks 
             (because there was no line at the drive-thru and I'm weak!)
July 25-31: No retail coffee.

August 1:  Large iced mocha from Jack-in-the-Box, 
                  because I was getting a burger anyway.
August 2-3: No retail coffee
August 4: Venti Chai Latte from Starbucks
                (because I felt like crap, so why not just give up?)
August 5-8: No retail coffee
August 9: Large Vanilla Mocha from vending machine at work.
August 10: No retail coffee
August 11: Venti Chai Latte from Starbucks
                  (maybe I'm blowing this 'give up retail coffee' thing?)
August 12: No retail coffee
August 13: Venti Chai Latte from Starbucks
August 14-24: No retail coffee
August 25: Large Vanilla Iced Coffee at Jack-in-the-Box
                  (because life is getting crappier, so why not?)
August 26: Venti Chai Latte from Starbucks
                  (same reason as yesterday's coffee stop)
August 27-31: No retail coffee

September 1: Venti Chai Latte from Starbucks
September 2-6: No retail coffee
September 7: Venti Chai Latte from Starbucks
September 8-12: No retail coffee
September 13: Regular Iced Coffee from Jack-in-the-Box
September 14-20: No retail coffee.
September 21: Large Vanilla Coffee from vending machine at work
                        (because overtime)
September 22-23: No retail coffee
September 24: White Zombie from an indie coffee stand I'd not tried before. (Did not like the taste.)
September 25-30: No retail coffee (except a Starbucks freebie).



October 1-11: No retail coffee.
October 12: Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks 
                     (Because someone was being nice and brought me one)
October 13-31: No retail coffee

November 1-8: No retail coffee
November 9: Large Vanilla Coffee from vending machine at work
                        (Because overtime)
November 10-16: No retail coffee
November 17: Large Vanilla Coffee from vending machine at work
                        (Because it was free!)
November 18: No retail coffee
November 19: Small White Chocolate Mocha from coffee stand in 
                        hospital lobby, (Because I was bored.)
November 20: No retail coffee
November 21: Large Vanilla Coffee from vending machine at work
                        (Because when I fall of the wagon, I really fall off)
November 22-30: No retail coffee

December 1: Large Vanilla Coffee from vending machine at work
                      (Because it was free!)
December 2: No retail coffee
December 3: Medium White Zombie from indie coffee drive-thru
                    (Because I was curious what the tattooed bra-ista wears
                     when it gets cold. Answer: Yoga pants and long-sleeved 
                     thermal undershirt. When I made my order she said 
                     "I remember you!")
December 4-19: No retail coffee
December 20: Large Vanilla Coffee from vending machine at work
                       (Because it was free!)
December 21-31: No retail coffee



 2022
January 1-2: No retail coffee
January 3: Venti Almond Milk Honey Flat White from Starbucks
           (because there's nothing like starting a new year with failure!)
January 4-26: No retail coffee
January 27: Venti Almond Milk Honey Flat White from Starbucks
           (because I was early for an appointment and bored)
January 28-31: No retail coffee

February 1-18: No retail coffee
February 19: Grande Pistachio Latte from Starbucks 
             (that was waaay overpriced)
February 20-21: Large Vanilla Coffee from vending machine at work
                       (because I needed to get through double-shifts)
February 22-28: No retail coffee

March 1-31: No retail coffee
(A complete month without hitting the coffee shop!)

April 1-10: No retail coffee
April 11: Large Vanilla Coffee from vending machine at work
                (because I needed to get through a double-shift)
April 12-17: No retail coffee
April 18: Large Vanilla Coffee from vending machine at work
                (because I needed to get through a double-shift)
April 19-30: No retail coffee

Jackie Kennedy and John F. Kennedy


May 1-9: No retail coffee
May 10: Large Vanilla Coffee from vending machine at work
May 11-18: No retail coffee
May 19: Venti iced Chocolate-something-or-other at Starbucks
            (because I got together with a friend I've not seen in years)
May 20-21: No retail coffee
May 22: Grande Chocolate Cream Coldbrew from Starbucks
           (because a friend gave me a gift card and I'm weak, WEAK!)
May 23-25: No retail coffee
May 26: Venti Honey Almond Milk Flatwhite from Starbucks
            (because I have a gift card, no one was in the drive-thru, 
             and I'm weak, WEAK!)
May 27: Venti Honey Almond Milk Flatwhite from Starbucks
            (because I have a gift card, no one was in the drive-thru, 
             and I'm weak, WEAK!)
May 28-31: No retail coffee

June 1-2: No retail coffee
June 3: Venti Chocolate Cream Coldbrew from Starbucks
           (because I have a gift card and I'm weak, WEAK!)
June 4-6: No retail coffee
June 7: Venti Chocolate Cream Coldbrew from Starbucks
           (because my car was in the shop and I was bored)
June 8-23: No retail coffee
June 24: Venti Chocolate Cream Coldbrew from Starbucks
           (because... well, I have no excuse. There was no line at 
             the drive-thru.)
June 25-30: No retail coffee

July 1-20: No retail coffee
July 21: Venti Chocolate Cream Coldbrew from Starbucks
           (because there was no line drive-thru when I drove by.)
July 22-31: No retail coffee

August 1-24: No retail coffee
August 25: Large Iced Vanilla Coffee from Jack-in-the-Box
             (because life sucks and there was a line at Starbucks)
August 26-31: No retail coffee

September 1: Large iced Vanilla Mocha from Starbucks
             (because I might as well start the month in failure)
September 2-16: No retail coffee
September 17: Venti Iced Chai Almond Milk Latte
                         from Starbucks ('cause why not?)
September 18-30: No retail coffee

October 1-9: No retail coffee
October 10: Venti Iced Chai Almond Milk Latte
                     from Starbucks ('cause no line at the drive-thru)
October 11-23: No retail coffee
October 24: Venti Iced Chai Almond Milk Latte
                     from Starbucks ('cause no line at the drive-thru)
October 25-31: No retail coffee

November 1-10: No retail coffee
November 11: Venti Iced Chai Almond Milk Latte
                     from Starbucks ('cause no line at the drive-thru)
November 12: No retail coffee
November 13: Large Vanilla Mocha from vending machine at work

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