On That First Sip Feeling

"Often in life, joy comes from surprising places..."

As a warning, this is a trivial and shallow topic, but when I started this Blog, I promised I wouldn't limit myself in my writing. I have long told my students that in order to write well, you must write what you know. Here is what I know: often in life, joy comes from surprising places. One such place for me was Starbucks. This company is not simply a 38,000-store coffee conglomerate, but also a former employer of mine. I have personally been a "partner" as baristas are called, and my wisdom teeth were removed with the financial assistance of the "cup fund", an employee-funded support system to help your fellow partner. But my joy wasn't found donning the green apron or waking up at 3am to help others start their days - it was in a particular hot beverage they made that was uniquely theirs: Chai Latte. Just the sound of it makes me want to find a good book, wrap my hands around that warm cup, and forget all of my problems for an hour or so...

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Over the years that "first sip feeling" that Starbucks prides itself on began a gradual decline - it's creamy, spicy goodness always managing to overshadow the negatives: the ever-rising cost, the increased wait time, the many mistakes in making a not-so-complicated beverage, and somehow getting "Jenn" wrong more often than not. But cost, time, and poor listening and spelling skills were still not enough to deter my not-so-occasional fix.

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Chai and I were still best buds - roadside companions on any drive over thirty miles long, a special treat on a rough day, a must-have on any rainy day, and always, invariably how I began each of my birthdays. For 23 years, it was there - how many things in life can we say that about? That kind of longevity - that sort of reliance, especially on a consumer product, is rarer and rarer all the time. On You've Got Mail, Meg Ryan's character writes about her failing and closing bookstore and says, "People are always telling you that change is a good thing. But all they're really saying is that something you didn't want to happen at all has happened.". These are my feelings today. This week, as I have done literally countless times before, I went to my local Starbucks and uttered those all-too familiar words to my local barista: "Can I please get a venti, nonfat, no-water, add-whip chai?". The phone was scanned, money given, minutes waited, and after I savored the moment leading up to that first sip, I was met with sheer disappointment that only grew as I was informed that the recipe had changed - the chai I had met, grown to love and depend on, would no longer be made or sold in any Starbucks store going forward. If I had only gotten there the day before. I could have maybe said goodbye. Or thank you, at least.

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At the start of this post, I warned that this topic was of little to no importance to anyone but me, but the interesting thing about any topic in writing is that it always begins as something that centers around what matters deeply to the writer. But this involves you, too. Those simple things you find joy in probably don't come from that Siren-calling white cup, but they come from somewhere and you never really know when they might not be there. Maybe one day Starbucks will bring the original chai back, but that isn't really the point, is it? My hope for you and for myself is that we can take stock of what matters - however silly or trivial - and really savor it. The first sip feeling is largely unparalleled and that last sip feeling is inherently and unavoidably bittersweet. Knowing this, or having it in the forefront of my mind at this time, I fully intend to deeply enjoy the other trivial things in my life while I can: the pull of that metal tab on an ice-cold Dr. Pepper, collecting all the chaos Emeralds in Sonic, and the delightful sound of a page turning in a new novel. There are so many, and while I don't think anything can replace that soul-satisfying first sip of a well-made Chai from Starbucks, at least I had it for as long as I did and during some of those particularly tough days, too. Special thanks to the baristas who put their love into each cup of Chai for me, put up with all my requests to remake it on those days I needed it to taste just right, and especially to my local Starbucks baristas who were the first to accurately describe this awful corporate shift as "diabolical". It was good while it lasted as so many things in life are - so what is good in your life at this very moment? Does it know? Do you?

-Jennifer

"The first sip feeling is largely unparalleled and that last sip feeling is inherently and unavoidably bittersweet."