Me and Espresso

A few days before Christmas 2012, as I was climbing into my car, I saw a bright banner on a nearby building: Two Creek Coffee House Coming Soon! I got back out of my car, snapped a photo of the banner, and sent it to my husband. A couple days later, he saw that Two Creek was open and he practically skipped inside.

You see, the town we live in has no coffee shops except Starbucks (we try to support local, and well, Starbucks coffee tastes like shit) so he was ecstatic, and he said the coffee was phenomenal. At the time, I had never before had coffee or espresso or tea. Ever. (This is where you can probably put two and two together - I live in Utah + I've never had coffee = yup, I was a Mormon kid.) But my husband and the barista at Two Creek were determined to change that.

I was never much of a hot drink person (again, thanks to the Mormons), but I have always loved hazelnut hot chocolate, so that's what I'd order. Within about a month of frequenting Two Creek, I'd walk in and say, "Make me something" and the barista would create something amazing. I found that I really loved steamed milk with hazelnut and honey, and peach tea lattes.

Then summer hit. I can't do hot drinks when it's 95˚ out. Hell, I can't do hot drinks when it's 55˚ out. The barista made me a blended mocha, but he used more chocolate than coffee, just to get me used to the flavor. A couple of weeks of blended mochas went by, each time with less and less chocolate, and soon enough, I was ordering a blended latte. No chocolate. One shot of espresso. I felt so cool. I could finally go to a coffee shop with my husband and order a real drink. (Although my husband still begs to differ. He says if it's cold, it's not coffee. Whatever.)

One year after Two Creek opened, it closed. No fanfare, no warning. They just up and closed. The barista would grumble to us about the absentee owner and the pushy landlord, but we didn't think the shop would go. It was sad. It was one of the very few bright spots this town had, and it was gone. We were depressed for days.

And then I realized I had a problem. An addiction. I craved espresso. Starbucks was not an option. Instead, when I wanted a drink, I'd have to get in my car and drive nine miles one way to the nearest coffee shop. And this is what I'd been doing since January, until yesterday. I made my own cold brew coffee concentrate so I can make my own cold coffee drinks at home. It's heaven. And cheaper!

I think my husband is pretty proud of me though. In a matter of months, I took my first sip of espresso, heavily muted by milk and chocolate. Now I take two shots in my lattes, straight up when they're iced, and with a little honey when they're hot. In the 15 years we've been together, he's turned me on to booze, beer (we make our own!), and now coffee. Life is so much better with beer and coffee. And that's the story about me and espresso.