New Thing #327: A Starbucks Breakfast

I realize I've been writing about Starbucks a lot this year. You might wonder why, considering my strong preference for Dunkin' Donuts.

The thing is, since I like Dunkin' so much, I've done just about all there is to do there.

At Starbucks I have a routine - either a mocha or a hazelnut macchiato.

And I don't think of those as 'start my day' drinks - they're more 'afternoon pick-me-up' or 'end of day' drinks.

So on Friday I decided to try a Starbucks breakfast.

The way it goes at Dunkin' is once or twice a week I'll get myself a large coffee there in the morning along with a breakfast sandwich and maybe also a donut.

I know what I'm doing there.

The idea occurred to me this week to try a Starbucks breakfast when I went in for an evening Starbucks drink and saw their breakfast sandwiches sitting in the glass case they have there. They looked really good. I just didn't know what to get. (As far as Starbucks food, I've only had some of their food as dessert before - never the breakfast stuff.)

So on Friday morning I got myself a Pike Place coffee (a venti - also a pretty New Thing. Usually I get grande, and lately I've been getting talls for the evening drink), which was better than I remembered. (Though nothing will ever beat the Pike Place coffee I had in Seattle at the original Starbucks - that was an excellent, excellent coffee. But that could have been psychological.)

Then I ordered a ham and cheddar artisan sandwich. It was delicious. The bread was especially good. I might have liked a little something extra with it, but I played it safe and went just with the sandwich. (You can see my order in the picture above. That's when I was back in the poor lighting of my car on a rainy morning. If there's one thing I haven't improved at this year during 365 New Things In 2013 it's having the guts to take on-the-spot pictures. I would have rathered take a picture of the sandwiches in the glass case…but there were people around.)

So that's my Starbucks breakfast debut. It's slightly out of my way to go to Starbucks on the way to school, so it won't happen that often, but it might be something to try every so often on the weekends as an alternative to Dunkin' all the time.

New Thing #321: Caramel Brûlée Latte

I'm not much of a fan of peppermint or gingerbread, so when places like Starbucks come out with their holiday flavors it doesn't do a whole lot for me. But I have to admit, the caramel brûlée latte at Starbucks definitely caught my interest.

As did the fact that between 2 and 5 p.m. all weekend they were selling this drink or the peppermint mocha or the gingerbread latte 2-for-1.

And I definitely didn't want one of the other two flavors.

The caramel brûlée latte was very sweet. But it wasn't bad - and it provided me with the caffeine kick I needed for some Friday afternoon report writing.

It's not the healthiest drink, calorie-wise. Click here for that information.

Now, you may remember that I am in love with the hazelnut macchiato. It's the only Starbucks drink I've had in the past year.

And, truth be told, this caramel brûlée latte has not unseated the hazelnut macchiato as my beverage of choice.

But until they start offering the hazelnut macchiato in a 2-for-1 deal, if my wife's picking up one of her flavored Starbucks drinks, well, I'll be getting a free caramel brûlée latte.

And I'll be OK with that.

New Thing #306: Caffe Americano

I'm no coffee expert. I think I've written before about my go-to coffee drinks:

There's dark roast or french vanilla (or the classic old regular) at Dunkin' Donuts, hazelnut macchiato or mocha at Starbucks, and regular coffees almost everywhere else.

But Karma Coffee isn't really like everywhere else.

Here's the thing about Karma Coffee - it's one of those independent coffee shops which sells complicated beverages that I don't really understand.

It's like Starbucks in that way....except with Karma I like their regular coffee and don't feel the need to find something flavored.

Actually, I've liked everything I've had at Karma so far. (Karma, you'll remember, is where I get my coffee most Saturday mornings now that I'm taking my daughter to dance class in the same parking lot as this coffee shop.)

I've tried their cappuccino and their regular coffee...but that regular coffee is where the problems start. They ask me hard questions when I just say "coffee", like "Ecuadorian?" Or maybe it was "Guatemalan?" I'm not sure I remember. But either way, it's the kind of question I'm not prepared to answer when I just want a cup of coffee.

Same with the rest of the coffee menu there. But as I work my way through the different beverages on the menu, I'm trying something new almost every week...and I'm doing my best to learn about them.

My most recent try was a Caffe Americano, and what I learned about it was, according to Wikipedia, it's espresso with hot water added to it. The site says that gives it a similar strength as (though different flavor from) regular drip coffee.

Which is good for me to know - because I'm very afraid that one of these things I ordered will end up not having enough caffeine...or any caffeine at all.

(All coffee places - independent or no - call non-caffeinated coffee decaf...right?)

New Thing #261: Karma Coffee

There are good coffee smells and there are coffee smells that remind you of a dead animal....or worse. Unfortunately, the coffee brewed at Karma Coffee in Sudbury smells terrible.

It's that smell - which isn't always there, but which I've smelled enough to have associated with the place - which prevented me from trying out Karma Coffee before last weekend.

But Karma Coffee is tucked away behind the dance studio where my girls take lessons.

And, as I've told you, my new Saturday morning routine involves taking my daughter to her dance lessons at said studio.

So, based solely on proximity, all future Saturdays (and one past - I went there this past Saturday) will feature some kind of coffee from Karma Coffee.

It turns out the coffee may stink something awful - but it tastes something delicious.

The menu is relatively simple - there's coffee, cappuccino, espresso, iced beverages...for my debut I chose an iced mocha. (My only complaint - maybe I should have gone with something a little more caffeinated. I'm not sure the iced mocha cut it for my first coffee of the day -  I had traces of a headache the rest of the day. But I think that's my fault much more than Karma Coffee's.)

I've had iced mochas at both Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks. This one was - by far - the best I've ever had.

That's a promising start for sure.

The space is interesting - there's a little seating area in the front, and there's a wide open space in the back, including the big coffee-making machine. (I think. I'm not sure exactly how that works.) It's a local coffee brewer - it's not a big corporation. I think that's part of what makes it so good.

There are roughly 30 more weeks of dance practices for my daughter...and visits to Karma Coffee for me.

The approaching autumn weather also means it's about time to switch back to hot coffees.

That gives me enough time to explore Karma's entire menu - first hot, then maybe cold.

It'll never smell like a pack of ground french vanilla from Dunkin' Donuts...but if everything else on the menu tastes like their iced mocha, I think I'll learn to live with that.

New Thing #192: All Star Game Merch

My wife and kids went a little All Star Game crazy for my birthday this year. No, they did not get me tickets to the game.

But they did get me some other All Star-themed merchandise.

Among the items - the cups you see at left.

Not pictured: the Matt Harvey baseball my oldest daughter insisted my wife buy at the Mets Team Store.

I have no need for a Matt Harvey baseball, but I like the way my soon-to-be-7-year-old daughter thinks: Daddy has been talking a lot about Matt Harvey. We should get him something related to this big interest of his.

This is a good sign for future gift-receiving by me.

But let me tell you a little bit about these cups.

The last thing I need these days is more souvenir cups.

I could open my own, um, souvenir stand I guess, with all the souvenir cups I have.

But the blue cup you see is a great cup. It's a sturdy plastic, and it's perfect for my smoothies. I got a clear one earlier this year with the regular All Star Game logo, and as you can see this one has the alternate ASG logo with an apple. I hadn't seen that logo before my trip to Citi Field last week.

The orange cup was a birthday gift. (Technically the blue cup wasn't a birthday gift, but my wife took me to the Mets game last week for my birthday, so I guess it falls into birthday gift territory.) The second-to-last thing I need these days is coffee cups - I have many of those too - but these kinds are useful.

3 out of 5 days a week during the school year I bring iced coffee to school. (I make a pot of hot coffee one day, then I throw the rest into a pitcher and put it in the fridge for about three days' worth of iced coffee. The fifth day I usually treat myself to a Dunkin' coffee.) I don't have many cups like this orange one with the straw - it's perfect for iced coffee. (I got one like it as a free gift somewhere but I dropped it and the lid doesn't fit exactly. So until I drop this orange one, this is a great addition.)

I used the orange one on Wednesday - it worked out perfectly.

There was one more All Star-themed gift. I'll fill you in on that next week.

New Thing #82: Reusable Starbucks Cup

I was in Starbucks not too long ago to get a(nother) hazelnut macchiato. At this point you might be thinking that I am a huge Starbucks drinker.

The truth is, I'm not.

I'm just addicted to this hazelnut macchiato right now.

But while I was there, I saw these reusable hot coffee cups.

And I figured, if I'm going to be be constantly drinking hazelnut macchiatos, I can at least be kind to the environment.

First, let's address the line between Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts.

Given the choice, I'd probably go Dunkin' french vanilla, or iced dark roast, over anything from Starbucks. (Even the hazelnut macchiato.)

Starbucks is a dessert drink. It's an afternoon pick-me-up type drink, not a first-thing-in-the-morning drink for me. Dunkin' is for long car trips. Starbucks is for sitting around the house on a lazy afternoon.

Such was the case Friday evening - after a long week, needing a bit of a kick to make it through the Friday night basketball games...it was the perfect recipe for a hazelnut macchiato from Starbucks.

And it was the first opportunity to use the reusable cup.

It cost just a dollar - I bought it last weekend on one of my hazelnut macchiato runs. It's not like that dollar investment is saving us money. Using the cup gets you 10 cents off the coffee purchase - you'd need to get 10 cups of coffee just to get your money back on the cup...there's no way it lasts for 400 cups of coffee to earn you a free cup of coffee. (It's a thin cup too - I wonder if it even lasts 10 uses.)

So it's definitely a purchase made to have an environmental impact...not an economic one.

Another problem - with iced coffee season fast approaching (I think...who knows really with the weather we've been having), it's not a cup from which I would drink an iced coffee (or hazelnut macchiato, as the case may be). The only reusable iced coffee cup they sell at Starbucks runs about $10...though the counter lady (barista?..also, I engaged her in conversation - that, too, is a New Thing!) says they're probably going to put out a similarly cheap reusable iced coffee cup.

The biggest problem right now is that on Friday evening my wife went to Starbucks with the cups to get the coffees. So I'm not even sure how to do the reusable cup thing. Do I have to approach the counter holding the cups high (chest-level maybe?) so they see them? Do I have to declare I have them when I walk in the door so they don't think I picked them off the counter then and there? And what do I say when it's time to order?

I'm thinking, "2 hazelnut macchiatos. And put it in them there cups. Please."

New Thing #71: Hazelnut Macchiato

My wife and I have a deal - When I make the purchase at Starbucks, she needs to tell me exactly what her order is, how to say it, and the conversation always ends with me asking her, "Is there anything else that they're going to ask me that I need to know?" I don't like standing at the counter looking dumb because I don't understand how to order at Starbucks.

So when I offered to pick up a couple of coffees Saturday evening, I was tentative when she said, "I think I saw a sign at Starbucks that they have something called a hazelnut macchiato. I'll have one of those with whipped cream."

I made sure she gave me an alternative if there was no such thing.

Right from the moment I walked in, though, there were multiple signs touting this New Thing. (That's a terrible picture of one of the signs at left...I kind of snuck the shot and the sun was in the wrong spot - what a disaster.)

I knew then that I had to get one too.

Here's the thing about hazelnut: I've always loved the smell of it. Really loved it. It smells delicious.

But I can't recall whether I've ever had it.

At Dunkin' Donuts I'm a plain, french vanilla, or dark roast kind of guy. But I'm always tempted by that hazelnut smell. And at Starbucks I stay pretty routine (see the lead-in to this entry for evidence as to why) - usually a mocha of some sort.

But for some reason (OK, we all know it's because of the New Things) on Saturday I decided to try the hazelnut macchiato - I got mine iced.

It was great - I think it was better than an iced mocha. Tasted more like an iced coffee rather than a chocolate drink, which I liked.

My wife thought it was good. She says she would get it again. Unprompted by me, when I asked her to describe it, she said it was better than a mocha.

So there you have it. Hazelnut macchiatos are better than a mocha.

I liked it so much I got another one Sunday. I have a feeling I'll be having many more this spring.

New Thing #25: Fibble

This post could have easily been "Going To Starbucks And Ordering Something Other Than What I Usually Do". I kind of thought that's what it was going to be when I walked into Starbucks.

See, I'm a Dunkin' Donuts guy. And if I go to Starbucks, it's usually to get a Grande Cafe Mocha and then get the heck out of there. (Maybe an iced one. Or a frappuccino in the spring or summer.)

But I stopped for a pick-me-up drink on Thursday and last-minute the words "Caramel Macchiato" came out of my mouth.

I thought I'd try it as a "New Thing", but I know I've had one of those before (maybe my wife ordered it for me), and I didn't feel good about it.

Then I saw that instead of a free music iTunes pick of the week, they had an "App" pick of the week at the counter.

And we had "New Thing #25".

It's called "Fibble". (Well, "Fibble HD", but I don't know if the high-def makes a difference.)

It's a $0.99 App, and I got it for free (thanks, Starbucks...and I do feel that if I'm spending $4.45 for a coffee I'm grabbing whatever free stuff is being offered).

Its card bills it as "A visually breathtaking puzzler". I'm not so sure about that. Maybe, as my 6-year-old daughter said, "It's like 'Angry Birds' just with aliens instead of birds." That's more accurate.

The puzzle aspect is coming through the further into the game I get, though - you do have to strategize and each level is progressively harder than the last.

My video game days are far behind me. My friend Kevin, I think, introduced many of my friends - my wife and I at least - to 'Angry Birds'. I feel kind of old admitting what struck me the most about the game, but I was surprised that you can lose lives and pick up right where you left off. And then without saving anything you can stop playing and then pick up where you left off the next time you play. I guess I was just used to always needing to save your progress on video games, like when I was growing up. All of these app games seem to be the same - you can just come and go as you please.

What I haven't liked about Fibble so far is that every time I open it (twice, that is) it goes through the iTunes GameCenter, which I haven't really been interested in signing up for. I am able to play bypassing all that though. What I like is that it's fun to pass a few minutes, but it's not terribly addicting. The last thing I need right now is an addictive video game. I get a kick out of how my daughters like watching the game.

I usually come late to these game trends, like with 'Angry Birds'. I don't know that Fibble is going to become as trendy and popular as 'Angry Birds'. But I kind of like that I discovered something on my own (OK, assist to Starbucks) while it's relatively new.