Tea for two and two for tea; the Trenta is too much for me
Word of Starbucks’ new mega-sized drink
– the Trenta – got coffee lovers buzzing this week, perhaps
because it’ll contain enough caffeine to fuel an airplane.
While the fueling thing is an exaggeration, consider this fun
fact: the Trenta will include more liquid than the average stomach
can hold, according to a report on sfgate.com.
Tea for two and two for tea; the Trenta is too much for me
Word of Starbucks’ new mega-sized drink – the Trenta – got coffee lovers buzzing this week, perhaps because it’ll contain enough caffeine to fuel an airplane.
While the fueling thing is an exaggeration, consider this fun fact: the Trenta will include more liquid than the average stomach can hold, according to a report on sfgate.com.
Still, it’ll be smaller than McDonald’s 32-ounce sweet tea offering, which tastes like it has more sugar than a chocolate cake.
So take your time with the Trenta to allow for proper absorption.
When I drink coffee, it’s usually in a coffee cup; not a mug, or a thermos or a barrel. The idea of being as jittery as a hummingbird and then having to make numerous bathroom breaks just doesn’t appeal to me.
My college roommate was a big fan of the 7-11 Big Gulp and an even bigger fan of the even bigger Super Big Gulp. He could down ounces and ounces of Dr. Pepper or Coke and not explode. It was amazing.
As I get older, I’m trying to make better decisions about my beverage choices. No Super Big Gulps or Trentas for me. A regular-sized glass of soda now and then is fine. Ninety six ounces of anything seems like overkill.
Come to think of it, my recent trend of ordering iced tea at restaurants ends up being overkill. It’s like the glass is bottomless and the waitress is trying to get rid of the restaurant’s supply of the stuff as if were about to expire.
No sooner do I take a couple of sips of the tea and turn my head to talk with someone at the table, and my cup is full again. A couple more drinks and the waitress is back, grabbing my glass and putting even more tea in there.
It happens almost everywhere with iced tea. A couple sips, and a refill. A couple more sips, another refill.
I appreciate the service, but I didn’t order the Trenta. The easy answer, I know, would be to slow down on my sipping so they wouldn’t be so inclined to fill the glass. But even when I just take a couple of sips, the waitress comes back to top off my glass.
At a local restaurant recently, my wife and I ordered iced teas and were told that they were out of our favorite beverage. We said water would be fine and they brought each of us a glass to enjoy.
Unfortunately, our waitress, who apparently was new to the job, brought us glasses of the seltzer water that comes out of the soda machine near the Sprite dispenser. It tasted like Alka-Seltzer and didn’t complement our meals too well.
I didn’t want to bother our waitress for another drink, because I couldn’t imagine what we would get next. My wife couldn’t handle the taste-free carbonated beverage, however, and requested a change. Turns out the new employee didn’t realize that the water from the soda machine wasn’t like the water from the tap.
She also didn’t realize that there was, in fact, iced tea in the kitchen, a fact that the cashier apologized for later. We didn’t mind. We gave her a break because our server was new and the food was really good, which made up for the beverage mix-up.
And in the end, because I didn’t get multiple refills of iced tea throughout my dinner, I felt less full as we headed home. It was a strange feeling, not having to wake up throughout the night after a meal that included iced-tea overindulgence.
It’s enough to make a guy order a Trenta to celebrate.
Adam Breen writes a blog at http://thebreenblog.blogspot.com and teaches newspaper and yearbook classes at San Benito High School. He is a reporter for The Pinnacle and is former editor of the Free Lance.
