Captains Coffee in Homer is a lovely place. Not only do they make a great cuppa joe, they'll serve it to you out of a drive-through window in the dead of winter. It is so lovely to come by a steamy hot mocha made just right without having to drag two little kids in and out of the car in a blizzard.
Yeah, I know drive-through coffee is nothing new. Lots of places do it. What Captains has going for it, beyond its great coffee and a much-appreciated drive-through, is its location. Captains is on the way. On the way to daycare, on the way to play group, on the way to almost everywhere I am on the way to.
A few weeks ago, I was on the way to daycare with Toddler when I noticed Hunter's truck in the drive-through line up. Later that day, I was on the way somewhere else, and there it was again. "Wait a minute", I thought. "If I'm hitting Captains Coffee four times a week and Hunter's been here twice in one day; just how much money are we spending on coffee?"
When Hunter got home from work that day, I asked him. Come to find out, Captains has one more thing going for it: great staff. Oh yes, it turns out that folks at Captains know Hunter's poison and thrust his coffee cup out the window the moment he drives up. Well played Captains, well played.
Turns out we were spending an embarrassing amount of money a week on specialty coffee. Good for Captains. Bad for us.
Since clearly the two of us were leaning heavily on the caffeine crutch. Cutting back seemed quite unappealing. Especially with an 8 week-old in the house. We're tired, so very tired. So I visited my favourite online shopping site and bought an espresso maker for the house. I figured that if Hunter and I used the home machine for about a week and a half, it'll pay for itself.
Enter my incredibly talented and wonderful new friend. In addition to being bloody incredible, my new friend makes a mean latte. So, one Saturday morning, I moseyed over to her house for a lesson. There, she introduced me to a Web site that sells chichi coffee gear. Specifically, Ghiradelli white chocolate powder. Is that stuff ever good. Sinfully good.
Now days, we're a little more jittery than usual. We probably talk too fast. I know we fidget more than we used to.
In hindsight, maybe the espresso maker wasn't such a hot idea. It made really really good coffee really really easy to come by. So while we might not be hitting Captains coffee with the frequency we used to, we're hitting caffeine like Ali on a punching bag. We sit down for breakfast sporting matching sweat lines on our upper lips. Sexy.
The funniest thing to come of this is our friends. Bless their cotton socks, they rat us out every time one of our cars is lined up at the Captains drive-through. Hunter tried to sneak through the other day, but he was busted by a neighbour who phoned to report his alleged transgression. "I thought you had an espresso maker?" he asked. "Do you know Hunter's still going to Captains? I just saw his truck in line!!"
Not sure what I'm supposed to do with that piece of information other than laugh. Can't say I blame Hunter for hitting the drive though on occasion because honestly: I do it, too.
Labels: Captains Coffee, Ghiradelli, Homer