I have a coffee habit that is pretty tame these days, but still a little bit stunning to non-Seattleites. This habit lead me to this rest stop. For a bathroom break? Yes. So both Randy S. and I hit the head as they say(they are indoors in a very clean and lovely building) and ventured out. Randy wanted some diet pop. He got it out of the vending machine. We were about to run. Then I saw it. A Cafforia( ). Oh, I love these hot coffee vending machines that make hot chocolate and so forth. The swimming pool I went to when I was a kid had one of these and I was absolutely fascinated by it. So, I definitely had to indulge. But then came the question… what should I have? So many choices? To be accurate, the Cafforia comes with a multitude of products you can get for yourself, 13 in all. Everything from Café Latte to Expresso(I love that they spell it with an X). So, I narrowed my choices to something milky and sweet, because one never knows about the coffee in these things and it’s best to have a buffer between you and potential burnt bitterness… I was either going to get: 1) Café Mocha — seemed promising, if basic 2) Café Vanile — about the same 3) French Vanilla — with which I had a hard time understanding the potential differences from #2 4) English Toffee — this was Randy S.‘s choice from the get Okay, so I labored and labored over the decision. Which one to get? It offered to put sugar in the Mocha and Vanile, which I thought was strange, but could point that they aren’t too sweet. But on the other hand, I’ve seen people pour sugar into coffee like they are trying to make fill in a lake, so you never know. Still, the French Vanilla and English Toffee could be sickeningly sweet and then I’d be pissed. Then it hit me: Get all 4! Brilliant idea really. I think they were like a buck a pop, so it’s just like buying a latte at Starbucks, so whatever. And, then I’ll have a definitive answer… so F it, I bought them all. First out was the English Toffee, Randy S.‘s front runner. It was good. Sweet, but not«too sweet» by any means. Actually very yummy. And the coffee wasn’t half bad! Especially considering my expectations Next was the Café Mocha(which had been my choice), which also wasn’t bad. It wasn’t very chocolately though, and not very sweet – which I actually view as quite an accomplishment in America, so kudos Cafforia! Next, the Café Vanile. Kind of like the Mocha, not too sweet, not too much vanilla. Just kind of a latte with some sugar. Still, given it came out of a machine in Mill Shoals, IL, not half bad. Last was the French Vanilla. I love that they call it French Vanilla, because there’s no way that France’s vanilla would contain about 300% of the sugar content of ours, but so be it. It was good! Kind of similar to the English Toffee. So, which one to take with me? I had to go English Toffee. Come on. When you get 4 espresso drinks out of a Cafforia in Mill Shoals, IL, and one is English Toffee, you’ve got to take it. I did. I left the others behind, sadly. What could I do? If I took them I would have had a pulse rate only known to very frightened rats and there is only one cup-holder in the Lexus anyway, so… Anyway, great place… clean, awesome, great Cafforia!
