As with millions of other people who have fallen victim to them, I am completely and utterly under the spell of Starbucks. Sad, but true. Last week, I went everyday for my usual: venti, iced Americano (and that stuff is hard core), unsweetened...no room. I can't seem to get through the work day without going to Starbucks between 2-3 p.m. for my drink. I've started a viscous cycle -- Monday: dead tired, go through half the day still dead. Come home at lunch and take a 30 minute nap, go to Starbucks, regain energy, can't sleep at night, go to bed REALLY late because of the effects of the Americano and then do the same thing the rest of the week. The sad thing is that I drink regular coffee in the mornings to wake up...but that doesn't seem help me out by the time the middle of the afternoon rolls around. All of it...bad. Maybe I'll stop drinking the potent Americanos and just have an iced tea instead. Nah, I tried that once before and that didn't work too well.
For SUPER strong coffee, skip Starbucks and go to Peet's instead. Just smelling their coffee makes me hyper (their iced tea too...is WAY strong and strangely doesn't taste much like tea...takes like weak coffee). I make Peet's at home, but not nearly as strong as they do in their stores. Sometimes, I make it just a tad stronger and seriously it makes me feel intoxicated. I once made the mistake of drinking 6 big cups of Peet's coffee at my great-aunt's house with my mom. Neither my mom nor my great-aunt are particularly calm people -- both being pretty outgoing and chatty by nature...and I realize I'm not a particularly quiet person all the time, nor am I ever quiet when caffeine-intoxicated. So... combine my 80-something year old great-aunt, my mom & I amped up on caffeine and look out world!!!Ok fine, that was my brief but pathetic commentary on the bad (yet fun) effects of caffeine. Now, I will go prepare my coffee maker to brew me some "life-juice" for tomorrow morning. The viscous cycle never ends...oh well!


