Yesterday was a long day at work, and I knew it was going to be so I started out the day by upsizing my now-regular Starbucks tall latte breakfast to a grande latte. And I had a homemade latte for my after dinner drink since I knew Rachel and I were going to be burning the midnight oil doing spreadsheets at the kitchen table all evening.
For so very long I had avoided having a “latte factor” in my budget. I’m not a big caffeine drinker since I don’t like the carbonation of soft drinks. But, now I really have to say that I love my tall skim latte each morning – either picked up on my way into the office or as a mid-morning break. But, there are two positive spins that I can put on this new addiction:
It’s not THAT bad for me. In fact, the aforementioned tall skim latte is only 100 calories and 75 mg of caffeine (less than 250/day is supposed to be fine) and it has 35% of my daily value of calcium and 10 g of protein. Yeah, milk! I used to enjoy an occasional grande white chocolate mocha with whipped cream back in the days of busy season caffeine requirements. But that’s too many calories to have as a regular drink. I weaned myself off my dessert beverage by switching to the smaller size and sugar-free syrup this summer (caramel and cinnamon dolce are both pretty tasty; vanilla, not so much). But, the sugar-free syrups made my stomach a little queasy after awhile, so now I just dump a packet of Splenda into a plain latte.
It’s not THAT expensive. Since I have fully transitioned to the tall, plain latte, it’s only $3. No upcharge for syrup or the incremental cost of the larger size. But, the real feeder of my consumption is the availability of Starbucks gift cards. (Thanks Mom!) I’ve got enough cards to get me through until the end of January, if anyone wants to send me a new one for Groundhog Day!
Although I do visit the Starbucks across from my office for 4 out of 5 lattes, I do mix it up a little. Within one block of my office are the following latte servers: national chains Au Bon Pain and Cosi, as well as local joints Café Phillips and Firehook. Oh, and in my building (no coat and gloves necessary) is a Barnes & Noble Café “proudly serving Starbucks.” So many enabling entrepreneurs!
