I went to buy a cup of coffee this morning and decided to hit a local coffee shop near my job that I don’t normally go to – and now I know why – because when I asked for a cup of coffee – my question was answered with the question of what kind of coffee I would like. The choices were Mocha, Chai Latte, Hazelnut, and Blend. What kind of flavors are those? And more importantly – which one is “coffee”?

Maybe it’s me – but I can’t figure out this whole trend of different flavored and “special blended” coffees. When I wake up in the morning, I need something to give me that smack in the face to wake me up and get me going – and to me – that smack comes from a cup of coffee. And my definition of a cup of coffee is hot water that was poured over ground up beans. It seems as of late, however, that other people are starting to define coffee a whole lot differently.

Now, instead of “coffee” – many of the places we go for a “cup of Joe” now seem to have at least a dozen types of coffee – and dozens of variations on how to drink them. Instead of that first cup of morning coffee – you can get everything from a “double mocha frappuccino” to a “Chai latte with Juniper cinnamon” to a “Hazelnut blend with light cream and powdered sugar”. Who is the genius that invented these crazy coffees? And with all of those weird and strange things in and on top of the coffee – can you even call these drinks coffee?

It’s probably a trend thing, but I can not get into these new ways of having a cup of coffee. I sometimes am on line and I hear these people ordering these odd concoctions and I want so badly to ask them why. How can words like “latte” or “frappuccino” sound appealing? Are you buying these drinks because they taste good – or because you think you look good drinking them? And most importantly – why not just get a cup of coffee like everyone else?

Call me “square” – but I find this trend of new coffees really stupid. No matter the next strange concoction that is invented and determined trendy – or how long this ridiculous trend will last – I don’t care. As far as I am concerned – keep your “lattes” and “frappuccinos” and just give me a regular with milk and two sugars – and hold the Juniper cinnamon.