Coffee is my life-juice.

Coffee. It's my beverage of choice, as much of a vice as it is a virtue. When I was young, it was my mother's beverage of choice as well. She'd brew a pot every morning and load each cup up with cream and sugar. It was generally unwise to attempt conversation until that first cup had been consumed. During my high school years mum was attending university. On the mornings I woke before her I would try to start a pot for her, so when she had to roll out of bed at least a few of her ducks started congregating in row-formation.

Because of those morning rituals, coffee became this taboo thing for me, something that grown-ups consumed. I was certainly not going to partake in something so adult.

When I moved to Waterville, my first place of employment was at a chain-coffee shop called Tim Hortons. It's straight out of Canada, land of the People Who Take Their Coffee SRSLY. One of the company's laws was that every twenty minutes, you brew a fresh pot of coffee. The old coffee is dumped out, regardless of how much is left in the pot.

Being from The County, I found this attitude unacceptable! It's wasteful! So I picked up this habit of drinking expired coffee to save it from being tossed. It didn't matter that I disliked the taste, I drank and drank and drank. (Sugar and flavor shots helped fix the taste.) As a result, I developed a taste for the stuff (and a caffeine habit) and am addicted. Alas, my love was not meant to be. Several months ago I had an abrupt change of careers, and this dried up my coffee supply.

Fortunately, relief was around the corner! Relief by the name of Jorgensen's, a local coffee shop in downtown Waterville. I love the wide variety of coffees, from Butter Rum to Orange to various organic free-trade roasts. Jorgensen's is the place to be. They also have Gelato, which is Italian for "Frozen Frosting Ice Cream of AWESOME." (It's actually a gourmet ice cream dessert.) The coffee is a bit pricier that the chain stores, but if you're willing to stick around, they provide free refills at the self-serve stations and the coffee is free on every seventh visit. They even have free wi-fi. I'd never leave if I didn't have obligations, like a full time job.



Did I mention the chocolatiers across the street? <3