“Cream, along with sugar, is one of the most basic condiments in the coffee universe. And by cream, I mean milk and all its variants: half-and-half, whole, skim, nonfat, soy, rice.”
Those are the opening lines of the article Coffee Pollutant No. 1: Cream by Oliver Schwaner-Albright of the New York Times. If he ever gets the chance to peek into my daily cups of coffee, he would probably get a heart attack! I already wrote a post on how I like my coffee a long time ago. I love it hot, sweet, and creamy. I don’t really measure – I am not one for measuring – but I probably put about a teaspoon of sugar and 3 teaspoons of cream (non-dairy) in each mug that I have.
So what’s the deal? Why is cream considered to be a “pollutant” when it comes to coffee? Schwaner-Albright explains:
If it sounds snobby, consider this: would you dab a Peter Luger porterhouse with ketchup? A slab of well-aged beef needs nothing more than salt, pepper and a good char. There’s nothing arrogant about leaving the Heinz out of it.
Uhm, now that he puts it that way, I kind of get what he is trying to say. Then again, a steak is very much different from coffee. More so, I do put A1 in my steak. It is not ketchup but it still is something more than salt and pepper.
I can appreciate a good cup of black coffee but I don’t think I can give up my sugar and cream for now. How about you?
Originally posted on June 11, 2008 @ 5:12 pm