No fun*

Sergeant Sarah Brown: It's so delicious. That Bacardi flavouring certainly makes a difference.
Nathan Detroit: Oh, yeah. Nine times out of ten.
Sergeant Sarah Brown: You know, this would be a wonderful way to get children to drink milk.

The above exchange comes in the middle of one of the greatest scenes in one of the greatest movies (my thanks to whomever is behind Drew's Script-O-Rama -- so much more satisfying than IMDB quotes), and just about sums up my attitude to sweet cocktails and fancy coffees. Both are abominations, designed to give people the thrill of doing naughty things without having to do the work that turns them into a pleasure.

So it was with great joy that I gulped down a helping of bile from one Tom Philpott, who lays into Starbucks and what it has done to the oxymoron that is US coffee culture, over at [GristMill] http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/10/27/103445/25. Go read it for yourself.¹ I will make just one piddling, pedantic comment. Tom writes:

The espresso at Medici, while a tad light in body, is lavishly blanketed in golden-brown crema, subtly sweet, with a finish that sticks with you for minutes after you're done. In a word, it's proper, correct.

Where I drink my coffee, it takes a shot of grappa or sambuca to correct a coffee, but that’s another matter.

* Which I believe is how one refers to a caffe latte made with decaf, skimmed milk and artificial sweetener.