By now, I have noticed that I am not the only person on campus who constantly complains about coffee. So, dear Bard, we need coffee! Real, decent coffee!
My first encounter with bad coffee started up quite early in the semester. At my first breakfast during orientation week, I decided to give the dining hall coffee a try. It was disappointing, but I still had hope. However, as time passed by, this situation did not necessarily improve. Every morning I would find myself drinking this weird substance that was deemed "coffee" in the cafeteria. This didn't fall into line with what I knew coffee to smell and taste like.
Second week of bad coffee: During the first week of class, I was sitting alone in Kline and, two tables away, somebody yelled the first complaint I heard outside of the study abroad group. He seemed annoyed by the situation and proceeded to point out how, in other parts of the world, people mind coffee more. “IN LATIN AMERICA COFFEE IS A RITUAL! PEOPLE WAKE UP WITH THE SCENT OF COFFEE EVERY MORNING!” (Yes, he was still yelling.) Thank you, angry stranger, for making me homesick with two sentences.
Third week of bad coffee: I left campus to get good coffee on some kind of date. I was kindly invited by a guy to a coffee shop that happens to be an old, repurposed church. The espresso I ordered tasted like heaven. Too excited by the decent coffee, I didn't realize until I made it back to my room that I'd just gone on a date. And that I had fangirled about the fact we were having coffee in a church way too much.
Fourth week of bad coffee: In what seemed back then a never-ending quest to find good coffee on campus, I ended up trying Turkish coffee for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor of it. Coffee in campus dining spots is still terrible. The most horrible thing I saw was decaf Colombian coffee in DTR. What is wrong with you people?!
The first week of October: IT TOOK A TRIP TO THE CITY TO HAVE GOOD COFFEE AGAIN! After two weeks of giving up on coffee completely, the cup I had at Blue Bottle Coffee in NYC tasted just like what I have been looking for since I took the shuttle to Upstate New York in August. Since coffee from Zaruma is fairly unknown outside of Ecuador, prime Colombian coffee was all I needed to feel less homesick, happier and hopeful about the rest of my semester.
By now, I’ve given up completely on the coffee available on campus. I have been told that the pumpkin spice flavored one is good, but I no longer want to feel disappointed by what is labeled as “coffee” on campus. Considering these epic fails, I’ve resigned myself to taking the shuttle and having my coffee in a former church. Fangirling about this place is a good way to start my day.
