Coffee, American Style

The other day, Jen sent me this comic from the silly but somewhat addictive website Toothpaste for Dinner.

My reasons for including it here:

1. I've been drinking way too much coffee lately.

2. I actually use a French press, although I haven't been using it lately. I haven't had much free time, and like most good things, the press requires a bit of attention beyond what your standard drip coffee maker requires. And the French press requires much more attention, I might add, than the free coffee from the kind folks at the Dining Hall at school.

3. I'm one of the few people in the world, it would seem, who likes drinking an Americano. Note, for instance, the Wikipedia entry for the Americano, which states, "Even now, Americano is far from the most popular coffee drink consumed in U.S. coffeehouses." Or witness the degrading description of the Americano by a haughty-but-ignorant former Starbucks barista who is now employed at Bread-N-Buns in Clermont, where you will find outstanding breads and pastries along with coffee that leaves oh-so-much to be desired: "That's just espresso and water. What's the point of that?" This, from someone who made me a rather bitter latte when I ordered a cafe au lait. And didn't even know what an au lait was. Oh, and yes, I know that there's no such thing as an American press, and I know that you wouldn't make an Americano with any kind of press, but it seemed relevant to me when I started writing this blog, so it's staying.