Confession time...

Okay, so I've got a little secret, that I wasn't going to share out of sheer embarrassment, but now I will because it turns out not to be as bad as I thought. Here goes- I like instant coffee. I can almost hear the gasps from my friends back home. I know, how can somebody who has spent the last 10 years in the coffee capital and who now works at a coffee shop like instant coffee. Well, the truth is, they drink a lot of the stuff around here. Initially, Mark and I scoffed at the idea of drinking instant coffee. But then we started traveling and realized that if you stay in a hotel and want a cuppa (as they would say around here) in the morning, it's gonna be instant because that's all there is. So, we started drinking the stuff and realized that it's not so bad. Then, a few weeks ago we ran out of coffee grounds at home and decided that instead of buying more and making plunger coffee (French press) in the mornings, we'd just- gasp- buy instant coffee. Now I can almost feel noses being turned up- I know it's bad enough that we drink the stuff, but to buy it too- but remember that we're cheap and instant coffee is cheaper than the grounds.

Anyway- just as I'm developing a taste for instant coffee and starting to think that I might even buy the stuff back home (of course I'd have to go to a very remote store and probably dress in costume and then hide it in the back of our kitchen cupboard)- my mom and Tom show up with Tully's coffee grounds. The taste of freshly brewed Tully's coffee that first morning reminded me of what I'm missing out on in drinking instant coffee. I thoroughly enjoyed every last drop of coffee that morning (actually- I think it was too early to be classified as morning- read Mark's posts if you're not sure what I'm talking about) and turned down a flat white at work because I didn't want to ruin the taste in my mouth.

So- the good news is that I haven't lost my taste for good coffee, I've just developed a taste for sub-par coffee. And let me assure all of you, that when you visit us back home, you can still expect freshly roasted, ground, and brewed coffee, not the instant stuff.

PS- I suppose I should also say that Tully's coffee isn't the only thing that I've enjoyed and sleep isn't the only thing that I've missed out on with my mom and Tom here. It's been a ton of fun taking them around the city, though I think they were a little disappointed at first that I didn't know the name and function of every building. It's also been fun hearing about their adventures on their day trips- in fact they're at Phillip Island waiting for the penguins as I write this. Tomorrow we're heading off to the outback- at least I hope so. We're renting a car and have a tentative idea of where we're headed, but nothing is set in stone, so we're just going to go with the flow. Hopefully we'll have some internet access along the way so we can post some updates.

Cheers!