Tour de Breuvage

Scott Kier has a great post up called Tour de Coffee. You should go read it.

Now.

I’ll wait.

Done?

Beverages are such an important part of our life both for the sustainability of our biological signs of life and also for our social well being. So taking a tip from him, I want to present what I consider to be my own regular Tour de Breuvage:

Dunkin Donuts – This really should come as no surprise to anyone who follows me on Twitter or who I’m friends with on Facebook. I start every day with a large french vanilla ice coffee, light with cream and with four Splendas. The reason I go to the same Dunkin’ Donuts is more than just because it’s on my way to work. For that matter there are actually five Dunkin’ Donuts on my way in, but I only frequent one because they get my order right. This didn’t happen overnight, it took about a week or two of arriving at the same time day after day and ordering the same thing in order to get the service to the point where if they see me pull up outside, my order is already made by the time I enter the store.

I consider myself a relatively late starter in coffee, having only started drinking the ice coffees in the summer of 2001. In fact, I really only drink ice coffee. Perhaps occasionally at a restaurant I may have a cappuccino or a small hot coffee, but other than that I am exlusively attached to ice coffee.

Coca Cola – When the afternoon hours start, whether or not I get the opportunity for lunch, I gravitate towards having a Coca-Cola. It’s an old friend that brings me both comfort and a sense of relaxation midday.

Now although I’ve been a long time fan (since around 1979), it isn’t like Coke and I haven’t had our issues. The whole “New Coke” debacle had driven me from the fold until the re-emergence of Coke Classic and the devaluation of both the Mr. Pibb and Mello Yello brands in the northeast has led me to the leisurely enjoyment of Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew respectively.

Slurpee – this should also be a non-secret to those who subscribe to my various feeds, but at the end of the day I like to cap it off with a 7-11 Slurpee. With a variety of bold flavor profiles and the unusual ability to not only drink it but to spoon it out, Slurpees are a win at the end of the day.

Right now the two flavors I’m VERY into are the red Cherry Fanta and the blue Alienade (a promotional flavor for the upcoming Cowboys & Aliens feature film), but with a relatively rotating flavor line-up there’s usually always something to satisfy the crave.

Chocolate Egg Cream – New York City is relatively famous for two beverages. The first is it’s tap water, that has been cleaned, purified, and chlorinated to the point of sterility that it is completely and totally tasteless and odorless. The second beverage is the Chocolate Egg Cream that I usually go to on the weekends in place of an ice coffee. Contrary to popular belief, there are no eggs, cream, or ice cream utilized in the creation of the Chocolate Egg Cream. The ingredients (milk, carbonated water, and chocolate syrup) are mixed together in a glass to create the frothy delight. I know there are some brands that claim they can bottle the sensation, but of them I can assure you there is nothing like a freshly mixed one… especially on a Sunday morning.

Mountain Dew Code Red – Back in 2002 I was introduced to Mountain Dew Code Red while spending some time doing freelance web design. The freelance work I did was mostly done by coding in Notepad through the night and into the early hours of the morning. Not surprisingly, the brand was being marketed to my kind of people. Now when I am faced with an undefined PHP function, a rogue DIV tag, or the CSS needs corralling to keep the network up, I’ll still turn to that familiar caffeine boost to get me through the night. Needless to say, their marketing has worked.

This concludes my Tour de Breuvage. What about you? What beverages make up your day or do you rely on to make it through?

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