…orange you glad I didn’t say banana?!

I’m sad… apparently Starbucks no longer carries Valencia as a flavor of syrup. I love coffee, but I rarely get a special cup of brew. An Americano is my drink of choice, simple, straightforward, and economical. I will switch between decaf and half/caf, or hot versus iced, but for the most part nothing else really changes. That is until I need a very special treat. These special treats usually only come around in relationship to cheering myself up after some issue with a boy, and this morning I needed a special treat. I had my heart set on adding one pump of Valencia and one pump of mocha to my grande decaf Americano with room order, only to be foiled by the barista who not only informed me that they no longer carry the Valencia syrup, but they haven’t had it for a long time. There was an accusatory attitude behind the statement as if she were saying, “You couldn’t have really liked it that much, if you didn’t know that we no longer carry your precious orange syrup.” Go ahead stab me, and then twist the knife! Does no one but me appreciate the special citrus goodness that when combined with a hint of chocolate and deep rich espresso becomes a magical elixir with the powers to heal (or at least mend a little bit) a broken-heart?! I wanted to scream, “It hasn’t been that long since I’ve had a boy-issue, so you couldn’t have been out for very long!”, but instead I calmly and rationally tried to come up with another flavor. I couldn’t think, and so consequently defaulted to peppermint. The peppermint-chocolate-espresso marriage does have its own special merits, but after this morning’s experience, I believe it only really has broken-heart-healing-powers around Christmas time. I think tomorrow I’ll have to try the raspberry-chocolate-espresso combination for its super-hero-heart-healing-power. I know that Starbucks is all the rage with bananas right now, but I really doubt that fake banana would do the trick for me.* Too bad, it would have worked better with my title… hmm, maybe banana coconut? I’ll keep you posted.

*No double entendre intended.