My little sis, Sharyl, bought me a coffee grinder for Christmas. As requested. And, as I told her just this past weekend, that at the current level of usage it might need to be an annual gift. Yes, it’s being well-used.

So, I’ve been sampling from the world of whole-bean coffee lately. Not only does this mean I don’t need to either (a) drink the expensive pre-brewed stuff occasionally at Starbucks or (b) drink the swill from the office, but it also means I can experiment (did you expect any less) with my own oddly disturbing concoctions and blends. For example, I’ve discovered that Save-On-Foods has a good selection of bulk coffee beans with an enviable subset of “flavoured” beans. When things go right, such as picking up some cinnamon flavoured beans and blending them with a bit of French roast dark beans, grinding, brewing and drinking, well — it’s awesome. When things go wrong, such as purchasing a small bag of raspberry flavoured beans and mixing them with a medium roast holiday wintermint bean, well — uh — yeah.

It brings back memories of my one and only sample of Sprite Ice(?) that toxic experiment by the beverage distributor at creating a mint flavoured lemon-lime soda. Eerie and unnatural combinations of flavours that remind me of chewing gum while eating pie, or brushing my teeth while drinking lemonade — these are things that just should not be allowed (in the vast cosmic perspectives of a livable universe) to exist.