I admit, I never thought that ordering a single mocha from Art of Espresso would have tremendous impact on the earth. I used to love displaying my all white plastic coffee cup with a sleeve as I carried it to class because it was differentiable from the common and everyday Starbucks logo branded on the cups of every other passing student. Mine was unique and I was a nonconformist!
As I became a more frequent coffee drinker, I began bringing my own reusable coffee cup (my tumbler). If you've ever gone to a small/ independently owned coffee shop or coffee cart, you know that generous discounts are given to customers who provide their own non-disposable drinkware to persuade consumers to be more eco-friendly and for the business owners to cut down on the cost of purchasing material.
On occasion, I would not bring my tumbler for the sake of convenience and thought little or none about my coffee. After all like most consumers, I was only focused on enjoying myself. Little did I know, that my cup of coffee actually allied with the eco-nemesis side of the battle for a greener earth and since I buy some kind of coffee drink everyday, going through the frequent buyer Espresso Passes like they're kleenex, I was helping pollution win this war. I finally read on Sustainability is Sexy.com that coffee cups actually contribute to greenhouse gases and forest degradation (aka, cutting down trees to make cups) and are nonrecyclable contributing to an accumulation of waste.
UCSD Students: Art of Espresso, Perks Coffee and Sierra Summit (Muir Commons) gives discounts when you bring your own tumbler! Last summer, I took a huge advantage of that fact. I would get a coffee everyday before I went to OChem (you must understand why) and bring my tumbler with me to reap from the benefits. Except, tumblers are actually designed for hot drinks but since this was the summer time, getting a hot drink in the afternoon in 80 degree weather seemed kind of stupid. So being the genius that I am, I would get blended drinks in my tumbler. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but I just thought it would be more aesthetically pleasing and feel more normal if I had a reusable cup for cold drinks instead of a tumbler. So I thought about creating a reusable tumbler for iced drinks, one that looks like the clear plastic cups that iced drinks come in. However, none of this planning was for the benefit of the environment, just for the benefits of my own selfish desires. So I was on a mission to find this specialized tumbler for my iced/ blended coffee drinks!
Fastforward a year later, two weeks ago, I was on my way to my dad's office and I stopped by Starbucks (I conformed) to get a drink and while I was waiting, I was looking at coffee cups on the sales racks (I love kitchenware). I look at the cups, their new metal water bottles (which I bought) and their tumbler section. And behind the tumblers, my eye catches a clear plastic tumbler with a screw on cap and a built in straw that looks EXACTLY like a Starbucks cup for cold drinks! My initial reaction was extreme excitement after a year of searching, that I have discovered the mother of all cups by chance. My second reaction was extreme bitterness that Starbucks totally stole my idea!
Here it is:
The mother of all Cups
So this entry is totally not going where I wanted it to go. Basically, my goal was to write an entry/ review on the new Starbucks insulated tumbler specialized for cold drinks but I just thought that I would throw in a little 411 for the environment. After all, one of God's commands to Adam was for him to take care of the land that God loves and created for us to enjoy.
This is semi relevant but I thought I should make a break just to show that its not completely relevant.
Kairos is asking the congregation to fast and to pray for our missions teams this summer. My vice is definitely buying drinks like Starbucks and Tap Ex. I have a horrible, horrible, uncontrollable disease that causes me to compulsively and impulsively purchase coffee drinks whenever I pass by a coffee shop. So this summer, I am fasting from purchasing any type of drinks that is prepared (mostly coffee and boba because those are my favorite). So I was so bummed that after I bought my tumbler, I went on this fast because I wouldn't get to use it when I go to Starbucks because I CAN'T GO TO STARBUCKS. So, my second option was to make my own iced coffee drink. I have to say, it turned out pretty good.
4 tbsp coffee grounds
1.5 cups of water (for coffee machine) [Minna thinks its weird that when I handwrite down ingredients for a recipe, I use H2O instead of water...really?]
1 tsp sugar
3/4 cups of milk
Coffeemate french vanilla creamer (to your own liking)
ice
New Starbucks Coffee Tumbler for iced drinks!
Make the coffee using coffee machine instructions. Add sugar into hot coffee and stir to dissolve. Add ice and milk into tumbler. Slowly pour in coffee-sugar mix. Add vanilla creamer. TADA! Simple pimple. Easy squeezy. Saves you $4 for a grande iced latte (Sigh. I miss those).
This is absolutely random. But I like Taylor Swift. :)
Oh and I like Aaron Yu too. :)
Random:
Molecular Bio is totally getting to me. When I was gchatting with Joanne yesterday, I wanted to write "jeans" but I wrote "genes" instead 
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