Not Profound: coffee edition

Why be too serious on a Monday, right?

I've gotten into something this summer for the first time, which isn't all that surprising given how late I was to the coffee game in general: iced coffee, the kind you can buy at the grocery store to drink at home. Sometimes cold-brewed, sometimes concentrate, there's a lot going on there that I didn't know about (and I've started to see commercials for cold-brew from Dunkin Donuts, which means it's not cool and trendy anymore, it's mainstream now)(in case my awareness of it isn't enough of a sign of that). And although, to be honest, it would be better for me to be indulging fewer caloric habits rather than adding new ones, well, I enjoy playing around with it, and there's a place for that in life.

It all started for me with an offer from Stop & Shop, back in June, for a free bottle, a one-day-only offer on a day when it was convenient to go, so I thought, why not? It was a brand called Stok, and I (unsurprisingly) chose the Not Too Sweet option instead of the Un-Sweet. I mixed it with milk, and found it to be a pleasant drink on a hot day.

After that, I tried Trader Joe's cold brew coffee concentrate, and being such a newbie to the game, did not realize before my first sip that this was unsweetened. Ack! In my totally biased opinion, TJ's version is probably more for serious coffee drinkers, not dilettantes like myself, playing with dessert-y drinks. I did try adding sugar, but of course it doesn't want to dissolve well in a cold drink, so that one was crossed off my list. Nothing personal, Joe: it's not you, it's me!

I tried a couple of other brands in the next month or so, from Starbucks and Caribou, and enjoyed both (again cut with milk, no need to add more sugar), and for my trip to Florida, I asked my mother if we could see what was in stores near her. So we played with several, and the one that impressed me the most was from a company called Stumptown, which is in Oregon, and has both sweetened and unsweetened offerings. I tried their chocolate version, and it was like excellent chocolate milk, rich and creamy, combined with a strong but not overpowering coffee flavor. When I was home again, rather than visit all the grocery chains around me, I checked their website to see if it's carried around here, and was surprised that the website didn't have a place to find that out; they suggested I could call (!) or email. I emailed, and heard back the same day that no one around here carries the chocolate milk version, but Whole Foods does carry their products, and I could ask at the store about carrying the chocolate. I did swing by a store the other day and pick up the non-chocolate version, which was also very good.

And that is my Not Profound musing for today. Together with an unrelated photo of Carlos, attempting to sleep in an invisible box.

Or become one of the Borg.