They call me Mr Fussbudget...

...especially at my local supermarket.

I did a major shopping today, and one of the items atop my list was coffee. It's one of the few food items I'm particularly picky about. On my last trip, they were out of my favorite brand; it happens sometimes, and I bought a well-known "gourmet" coffee as a substitute.

Big, bad mistake. The stuff was vile, and there were mornings when I didn't think I could keep it down, much less finish the pot.

So the coffee shelves were the initial stop in today's shopping tour. I was perfectly content to throw away the remainder of the hideous swill I bought last time.

But I noticed the display had been rearranged. Now, there were rows and rows of flavored coffees -- which I consider slightly less acceptable than drinking heated antifreeze -- plus various cans of "custom" coffee blends from the same people whose "Dark Colombian" brew I came so close to physically rejecting more than once.

And my favorite? Not there...



Worse, I was informed that the store had stopped carrying it. Cretins.

So I bought a can of "French Market" -- dark, with added chicory, Looziana-style -- and rushed home to do some research.

I found that Cafe La Llave was not, as I first thought, a Mexican roast, but was based on Cuban coffee; the company that makes it in fact got its start there.

And then I found a source, right here in SoCal, that will ship me the stuff for $0.80 per car more than Von's charged. That's still cheaper than the toxic waste I bought as a substitute.

That will make my buddy happy if he ever makes it out here. I can brew him up a pot of Cafe Cubano, and he can refine the recipe for me.

I started drinking coffee at a late age (roughly 23-24), and didn't start making it at home until I got married. Over the years, I ground beans, quite enjoyed the chicory blends, but didn't really fall in love with the taste of a cup of joe (except for odd occasions in frozen Arctic wastes, France, Italy and during a couple camping trips with a friend who knew how to make it Navy-style) until I got my first shot of Cafe La Llave.

During the glorious days of my transcontinental love, I took a few cans of it back to her place so she could have it ready for me on those early, chilly East Coast mornings. Beat the heck out of anything they had at Grand Union or even Gristede's, let me tell you.

I ordered four cans today, and will have them by the middle of next week. It's been three weeks since I ran out, and I have a serious jones going....