2007 Café con leche

My first cup of coffee was actually in Barcelona, Spain while studying abroad.  We had super early classes but we were also in Barcelona!  In Barcelona you eat dinner at about 10PM and go out around 12AM.  We would have class as early as 8AM…so you do the math.  The lack of sleep combined with me wanting to be “cultured” led me to my first Café con leche.  Café con leche is basically espresso with milk.  Because I didn’t particularly like the actual taste of coffee at this point I would put in a TON of sugar.  It helped that the sugar packets in Spain were about the size of my hand.

2008 – 2009 Dunkin Donuts medium french vanilla made in a bean-to-cup coffee machine, with skim and two splendas

After being abroad I came back to school and discovered that I might actually like the taste of coffee (well a lot of flavors, milk, and sweetener disguised as coffee).  This is when I started going to Dunkin Donuts.  The order went something like french vanilla iced coffee with skim milk and two splendas.

2009 – 2011 Starbucks grande coffee with vanilla, skim, and splenda

I discovered Starbucks!  I moved to Boston and started working right across the street from a Starbucks.  This quickly turned into a 5 day a week relationship and there hasn’t been much turning back since.  This might sound silly but I just love starting my day going to Starbucks – especially if you have a regular one where they know you.  The workers are always so nice and just help get your day started on a positive note.  My first couple of years as a Starbucks drinker I still thought skim milk and splenda and adding vanilla syrup was pretty “healthy.”  Sometimes for a treat I would get a vanilla latte but of course “skinny.”

2011-2012 Starbucks grande coffee with sugar-free vanilla and soy

I realized that I shouldn’t be putting 2 splendas in my coffee every day so I weaned myself off of it.  Although at the same time I switched to sugar-free vanilla syrup (which is made from splenda – I was a dumb dumb).  I then decided that soy milk was what healthy people drank so went  with that.

2012-2013 Starbucks grande coffee with vanilla and whole milk

When I started eating primal I knew I had to stop with the soy milk and anything with artificial sweetener.  I switched to a splash of whole milk but couldn’t pull myself away from the vanilla.  By the way when you add syrup to a Starbucks coffee they put 4 huge squirts in! That’s a whole lot of sugar!

Today Starbucks grande coffee with one pump of vanilla, black

I know, I know what the heck does one pump of vanilla even do?  But give me some credit – I’ve come a long way!  I’ve weaned myself off all of the processed, artificial, and sugar add ins.  My goal is to start enjoying coffee just plain black but I’m not there yet.  Either way it feels good to have a coffee almost in it’s raw form!   I can’t believe how much I used to put in it – now all of that stuff tastes so sweet to me it’s crazy!