USA
So sweet!
When you love the whole “Coffee family”, and find a Starbucks every mile (yes not km but mile 🙂 ), you are inevitably tempted to stop the car and drink some! It was one of those days, when it felt like Starbucks was waiting for us 🙂
This time I wanted to start my morning with a newspaper, a white chocolate mocha instead of cafe latte and a chocolate cake. Even though I was thinking that I can eat unlimited amount of sweets, the combination was too sugary for me.
In any case, I was happy 🙂
The calorie level of mocha (size tall: 350 kcal) was double the level of caffe latte (size tall: 150-160) but I was not expecting a sweet combination like this one because I had drank mocha elsewhere in the world around Europe and in Turkey (and afterwards even in Dubai). It reminded me of the articles that I read some months ago about the sugar levels in different drinks and I decided to take a look again.
I have found the article in Business Insider but the size was not the one that I drank. I switched to the original source, which is ‘Action on Sugar’ and found out that I had drank already 11 spoons of sugar (just from coffee). Apperantly it is around 177% of the daily intake that is recommended by the World Health Organization. The official announcement of Starbukcs about this issue was:
“Earlier this year we committed to reduce added sugar in our indulgent drinks by 25% by the end of 2020,” a Starbucks representative told Action on Sugar. “We also offer a wide variety of lighter options, sugar-free syrups, and sugar-free natural sweetener, and we display all nutritional information in-store and online.”
I can say that 25% reduction is not enough but it can be a start. I hope they will be able to find healthier solutions with less amount of sugar in the future. I want to continue to try different drinks based on coffee, but they should be healthier, so we can live more and enjoy more coffee 🙂
Home Roasted Coffee? Here is an alternative…
We had planned our visit to see Enchanted Rock State Natural Park, later deciding to include Frederiksburg, which is 8,4 miles (13,5 km) from the natural area. When we arrived to the historical neighborhood, I was nearly losing my hope to find a coffee roaster around.
There were no popular coffee chain on Main Street, and we did not know what we could expect. Then I had chance to taste american coffee at the Crossroads Steakhouse & Saloon and actually the taste was better than I had imagined. With the friendly service that they have, it was a pleasant experience.
Of course we did not give up to search for a specialized coffee place and at the end, with the help of social media, we found it!
Even though the town has a population of 10,5k (year 2010) according to Wikipedia, I was suprised and happy to see a roaster called ‘Ranch Road Roasters’. When we found it, it was already closed, so I waited for the next day to taste a home roasted coffee.
When we came back next day, we asked for the coffee of the day, which turned out to befrom Guatemala. We took our coffee and continued to the small garden on the back for a peaceful coffee tasting.
The taste was lighter than we expected, also beacuse of the size of the serving. Even though they use espresso size cups, they filled them so that the coffee ended up being diluted. As a result, it was easier and lighter to drink. As an Italian style espresso, it might have been a bit too strong for us. The person, who prepared our coffee, told us that all coffee there is roasted by them and we also saw the roasting equipment they have (as well as the white smoke from the chimney outside, when we left). Overall, we were happy about our experience and ready to go back in the future, should we have an opportunity. The person working was very kind and treated us with the same warmth, as if we were regular customers.
I can say that if the small town is on your way and if you crave for a home roasted caffein punch, the place can be an option for a trial.
COFFEE MAPPING 