Nespresso

So I went to Crate and Barrel to look for some champagne flutes, but I didn't find the kind I was looking for. However, on my way back out there was this cute little woman all dressed up like a barista. As I was walking by, she asked if I wanted an espresso or cappuccino. My instinct was to so, "No, thank you," but for some reason I said, "Sure!"

She grabbed this tiny little plastic cup thingy and dropped it in the top of this machine. I immediately thought of the Keurig machine I have at home, so I said, "Oh, so it's like one of those K-cups." Yeah, open mouth, insert foot (how dare I compare her machine with a Keurig!) Now, here's the thing. On the side of the machine there was this thing that looked like a thermos, into which she poured a little milk. She pushed a button on the thermos and a button on the main device. Coffee began pouring into the cup. It wasn't much coffee, but it was coffee. Then she pulled the thermos thingy off the side and poured hot, whipped milk into the coffee and handed the cup to me.

I took a sip.

Disclaimer: I am not a fan of coffee. Everyone kept telling me, "Oh, try this coffee, or that one, or the other one. You'll like this one." My response: "I DON'T LIKE COFFEE!" For some bizarre reason everyone always said, "Oh, but you'll like this one. You can hardly taste the coffee!" Now, if I can hardly taste the coffee, then why am I going to drink the coffee?

Eventually my mom wore me down and found a coffee that I like - the Keurig. Specifically one that tastes pretty much like hot chocolate. So I would drink a cup when I visit Mom. She later got me a Keurig machine for Christmas, and I use it at home occasionally, still thinking, "Why do I drink coffee if what I really like about it is the fact that it tastes like hot chocolate?" But it became a habit, and I would make coffee in my Keurig, making sure to add like a quart of milk and a cup of sugar to each mug of coffee the thing would dispense for me.

But here I was in Crate and Barrel, in front of this cute little lady named Jennifer, a vendor from Nespresso, trying to sell me a $350 coffee machine. I took a sip of the sugarless coffee.

It was actually good. She told me about their special, and the cost of each cup of coffee, and little perks she could throw in if I bought during the holiday season. She told me all about how the machine works, and how to care for it. I thanked her and walked out of the store, thinking about that cup of coffee.

Twenty minutes later I was loading my new Nespresso in the trunk of my car. At home I cleaned off the counter, washed the new machine (I never use anything new, not even clothes, without first washing it) and set out to make a cup of cappuccino. But out of curiosity, I decided to toss a tiny bit of cocoa into the milk.

Okay, so the extra bitterness of the cocoa forced me to put a tiny bit of sugar into the mix, but nothing compared to what I normally put in. Then a little later I had another idea. I put a half cup of milk into the thermos, a small bit of cocoa and a small bit of sugar. I pushed the button and waited a minute. When the machine was done, I poured myself an excellent cup of homemade hot cocoa. No fuss, no mess.

Merry Christmas to me!