Temple Coffee.

Apologies in advance to my friends who live outside Sacramento: You don't have Temple Coffee -- and for that, I'm really, really sorry.

I'll start by saying I'm not really a huge coffee person. I drink it on a pretty regular basis (and REALLY needed it when I worked at 6a every day), but that doesn't mean I'm a die-hard. It's just necessary to drink some in order to survive most work days. I'd rather have a Monster. But those give me heart palpitations (at least, that's what it feels like), and I'm scared I'll seizure if I keep downing those on the regs.

So, coffee it is. At least it's natural, right? I swear, we're going to find out in 20 years that Monsters are like cigarettes, and I'm gonna be all, "but we didn't KNOW how bad they were!" And people will be like, "inhaling smoke into your lungs? ... Drinking god-knows-what with HOW much caffeine?! Duh."  So. Coffee it is. With a lot of cream and sugar. (Still trying to get off the Splenda).

And in case that last part is confusing -- I don't smoke cigs. Never have (really. Ever). And I never would.

But anyway, fun coffee drinks? Those are another story. I can get behind those. I try not to buy them too often -- for reasons involving my checking account and my waistline -- but I do splurge from time to time.

The Temple Coffee latte (and vanilla latte!) is like, one of the most incredible things I've ever had. It's thick -- I believe making it with whole milk helps : ) -- and it's the perfect amount sweet. And it fills me up like, for at least a few hours. Meal replacement, boom.

Try to go back to the Starbs latte after this and you're so doomed. It's gross. To tell you the truth, everything at Starbs is a little lackluster once you've had Temple.*

Even Temple's plain coffee is just on another level. I can almost drink it without cream and sugar. Almost. After a couple sips of appreciation, I still want to add just a little of each.

So ... all of a sudden I'm a coffee snob? I really didn't want for this to happen. I'm certainly not one of those people who TELLS OTHERS that she's a coffee snob (or a wine/beer snob, really. Even though I can appreciate good vino and brews). That's just weird. We get it, you're super cultured!

Anyway, Temple. I can't even.

The final thing I'll mention is that it's also more expensive than Starbs, which is another reason I don't go every day, but when I do, it is just so perfect that it hurts a little. Keep doing what you do, Temple Coffee.

**Not sure if I'll feel this way about Caribou and Biggby once I come back to the Midwest. We have neither in NorCal  : (  I've always been more of a 'Bou person, myself.