It would be great if everything we thought was fantastic was organic, local, fair trade and eco-friendly. But, things just don’t always work out that way, and sometimes some great guilty pleasures do nothing more than make us smile and put money in the pocket of a large corporation. It’s not the end of the world – it’s just how things work sometimes.
Having said that – holy crap, I have a few new guilty pleasures! First being Starbucks Via. I am a woman who is not the biggest fan of instant coffee – at least when it comes to anything that is supposed to be a replacement for brewed coffee.* I had been using Folger’s singles in a pinch when I either wasn’t in the mood to make a full pot of coffee, or out of regular coffee altogether. Those worked quite well, and were better than any instant crystals I’d run into. I was quite skeptical that an “instant” coffee could be better than anything I’d run into before. When Starbucks did their initial rollout, my local store did “mocha mousses” with whipped cream & the Via crystals mixed – they tasted like coffee whipped cream with no graininess. So, I knew it would least dissolve in water. Let me say – this stuff is pretty good. It’s not the same as a pot of coffee, but it is NOTHING like instant/freeze-dried coffee. It’s more expensive than instant – I picked up an 8 pack for $8, but if you’re using it as emergency/backup coffee, it’s worth it.
My second guilty pleasure, courtesy of my new fridge/freezer. It has been empty, cause the old one had defrosted and re-froze things multiple times, so it all had to go. I happened to walk down the ice cream section of the market the other night… I spied Twix Mini Ice Cream Sandwiches. (Crappy flash link, but it’s there.) AWESOME!!!!!!! They’re very mini, which is fine – I am someone who can have 3 bites of ice cream and be happy. It’s French Vanilla ice cream, with a ribbon of caramel, Twix cookie bits on top, and the whole thing covered in chocolate. Just AWESOME! Reminds me of the ice cream bars that Baskin Robbins used to have. (And may still have, but I’ve not been in for a while.)
The third one is also ice cream… Dove Cafe Collections. Coffee flavored ice cream minis with chocolate chips & chocolate coating, or coffee ice cream with milk & dark chocolate coating. Again, just a couple bites, but so insanely satisfying!!!!
*I will admit a love for GFIC’s Cafe Vienna & Orange Cappuccino. I will readily admit that they aren’t really coffee, but a flavored delivery system for caffeine and sugar that presents itself in a hot-drink manner appealing to me. I won’t say it’s really coffee.
