hazelnuts

Hazelnuts, the size of a gumball with the power of a cannon.

Okay, maybe hazelnut doesn’t pack that much power for you, but this new discovery has substantially changed my life, especially my coffee life. Before I get into the greatness that is a hazelnut, in this post I’ll tell you what first made me discover this little gem.

Chick-fil-A. I love it more than the average person. I work at one of the top stores with the most amazing people. I’ve also been there three years and I’m still not tired of the food. I could eat it every day, in fact, there have been weeks when I indeed ate it every day, even on days I wasn’t working. The only thing I never have and thought I never would enjoy is their coffee. Even when after the recent change.  Some people enjoy their coffee, and I’m happy to serve it to them, but in my opinion, it’s gross. Really gross. In the coffee’s defense though, I’ve grown up around coffee. It’s a part of Hispanic* culture and big deal to me, so I tend to be pickier. I have been called a coffee snob before…

I’m working on it.

Anyways, at least the new coffee is always fresh, unlike our old coffee that I think had a really gross holding time. Coffee literally turns rancid after just an hour people. Our old time was longer than that. However, it’s always fresh now so I’d thought I’d give it a try… still gross. (to me… a lot of people love the new coffee.) I tried everything, every combination of cream and sugar possible. Nothing worked, there was no magic combination that could transform my coffee. NOT EVEN VANILLA.

 When vanilla didn’t work, I almost gave up. Until I saw one of my Mexican coworkers add hazelnut to his coffee. Hispanics know what’s up when it comes to coffee people, pay attention to them. So I tried it. Mind blown. Chick-fil-A coffee now became drinkable to me, and I daresay…enjoyable. Yes, enjoyable. Hazelnut was the magic I was searching for. I owe the future of my career to that man. As I am now working the day shift, I have to be there at 6am. Even when I graduate and become a teacher, I’ll be getting up early all the time. Coffee is almost necessary some mornings. Now I can drink it anywhere. Even places I think are gross. IHOP probably has the worst coffee ever, I’ll try it there, the ultimate test, and see how it goes.

The only time I had ever tried hazelnut was once at a coffee shop in a Macchiato. It was amazing, but I thought it was just the store that made it good… it was the hazelnut… I feel like the Apostles after Christ rose from the dead, now they understood everything. (Yes, I just compared Christ’s resurrection to my coffee. No, they are not equal. It’s a joke people.) Have you ever tried hazelnut in your coffee? When you do, you may never go back.

 

Goodbye Vanilla, hello Hazelnut.

 

*I’m Hispanic if you didn’t know, Dominican.