Coffee & Doughnuts

Psst! Hey, you, reader, do you want some coffee? I bet that you do. I know I want some; “coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee”!!!

This is for all of you coffee lovers out there. You know who you are and why not? It is the caffeine fuel that gets us going in the morning. That little boost of adrenaline to get us out the door and make that drive into work. It’s that little extra something that morning eggs and juice cannot give us. There are So many flavors; over 100, by the way, to choose from. Dark roast, light roast, Americano, cappuccino, cold brew, omg how does one decide!!!

I will be the first to admit that I am a coffee head. Yes, I am one of those “Don’t talk to me until I have my morning cup of coffee” type of people. I stumble out of bed every morning at 5am, crust in my eyes, wild hair, tripping over cats, directly to my coffee pot (Keurig now; got one last Christmas) and slowly come to my senses while the aroma fills the air. It’s as if someone puts smelling salts under my nose; my head pops up from leaning on the kitchen counter as soon as my mug is full. Everything is almost perfect except for one small but extremely important missing component.

I NEED DOUGHNUTS!!!

I like to think that I eat a pretty healthy diet. I do not go hard core on the sweets but when it comes to doughnuts, I am a true sucker. I am not particularly picker either. I like grocery store bakery doughnuts; getting them early in the morning is the way to go before too many hands get there and while they are fresh. I like homemade doughnuts, hmmm…. Haven’t had those in years. Of course I also just love me some good old Dunkin Donuts. I especially love the seasonal ones just because they make me smile, munchkins (when I was a kid my siblings & I would fight over the chocolate ones) and my first pick in the store is always the chocolate crème filled.

Yeah, yeah, I know; doughnuts and coffee, big deal! Well, my friend it is not that one enjoys the coffee and doughnut; it is how one enjoys them!! I have a confession: I am a dunker. I simply cannot help myself. I have tried before to restrain myself but my hand always seems to just go back to old habits, and plunk goes one doughnut into my hot coffee which always takes 2 sugars and almond milk. Unfortunately not everyone shares my joy for dunking. If I am in public sometimes people just stare at me with that “crazy” stare and my children always just look at me and say “EWW”!

I picked up my doughnut/coffee dunking habit several years ago when I was employed in the hospitality industry. I worked as a housekeeping and laundry manager in the Comfort Inn & Suites chain. It was a quick caffeine and sugar fix for me in the mornings as my job kept me running all day long. Sometimes my employees would see me taking a break and just walk by me and laugh, pointing at my powder sugar covered lips. Other times I would get caught in the act of dunking and I would hear “Boss that is nasty”!

Truthfully, it’s not really a surprise that coffee and doughnuts go so nicely together. Caffeine gives us a jolt of energy blocking receptors in the brain for adenosine, a chemical that makes us sleepy. At the same time caffeine also alters the way we perceive sweetness. This dullness in taste sensitivity actually makes us crave sweets even more. Kind of explains why cakes, cookies and doughnuts pair so nicely with a cup of Joe!

Now I don’t want you to think that I sit around drinking coffee and dunking doughnuts all day but it is a morning ritual that I just refuse to give up. It gives me a morning boost to get me going. I do indulge a bit at this time of year, however, with Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our family does the whole Dunkin Donuts and coffee thing on these holiday mornings to hold everyone over during the hours of prepping and baking our feast. Naturally, I am the only one doing the dunking, but perhaps after reading my story you will think of me on your very next Dunkin run and give it a try. It really is delicious. Cheers!