Gallery • 4 Photos

Coffee means something different for everyone whether it be what gets them through the day or the reason they want to start the day. For me, it all started when I was around three months of age. You might be thinking that I am exaggerating, but I have always enjoyed the colorful flavors that coffee has to offer. When I was about three months old, my grandfather would dip my pacifier into his steamy black cup of coffee and then plop it straight into my mouth. Due to the caffeine in the coffee, for several months, my parents wondered why I wouldn’t sleep after spending time with my grandparents. It was a while before my parents realized what he was doing, but when he tells the story he always ends by saying, “It was the only thing that kept her happy.” I love knowing that after eighteen years of life, the validity of that statement has never been more true. 

Coffee has been said to be a morning treat, a study drink, an energy booster, a break at work, or even a hobby. However, I like to think of it as something I am passionate about, a lifestyle. Whether trying to make the cup of coffee diverse, with a fruity aftertaste or a blissful aroma that fills the air, coffee can provide any delicate flavor wished upon. Coffee to me is quite rewarding, after making a cup upon my desired and sought after flavor has been accomplished. 

The average human spends around thirty two thousand hours eating and drinking in their lifetime, and these 32,000 hours can’t be wasted on drive throughs and vending machines. The palette of the tongue is very diverse and if we are to put endless amounts of time into eating and drinking, we might as well enjoy it. The Coca-Cola company has recently put out a new flavor of soda onto the shelves which just so happens to be a series of coffee flavored coke. The beans that were used to brew the cross between coffee and coke comes from a large producer of beans in Columbia. In 2019, they produced approximately 15 million bags of beans each weighing nearly 132 U.S. pounds. 

As an avid coffee drinker, I had to try the new taste that was offered by the Coca-Cola Company. There are three flavors: Dark Roast, Caramel, and Vanilla Coffee Coke flavors that were produced, of which I have tasted two. The first I had was the Vanilla Coffee flavor. Before ever sipping a coffee or coke for this matter, try smelling it. This might be weird but it completely opens up the palette prior to taking the first sip. The 70 calorie drink was much better than I had anticipated with the usual fizz. The vanilla was very subtle while the familiar coke taste blended strongly with the steady aftertaste of the coffee. The smell of the coffee came off stronger than the drink itself which came as a surprise to me. The coffee flavor was not as strong as I would have liked, due to the vanilla creaminess of the drink, but was still a solid 6.5/10 for me. Recently, more and more people drink coffee with loads of milk, sugar, and syrups, to these of which I would expect would rather enjoy this drink. 

The second flavor I had tried was the Dark Roast which was much more down my aisle. I love the freshness of a hot black coffee or even a nicely steeped cold brew, for the dark roast blend offered the flavor more boldly and much less scarce. Even though it tasted more like the dark roasted coffee that is sold at local coffee shops, it did contain a type of hazelnut aftertaste which complemented the cola very nicely. I was more impressed with the dark roast flavor and recommend it to my frequent coffee drinkers, giving the drink a whopping 7.5/10. 

In the next week, I will be creating a small video segment containing more information regarding my favorite types of coffee, how to make them, and maybe even showing you how to decipher the taste that it brings to the counter. I love being able to share my passion of coffee with everyone, in addition to the photos I took within the article.