London Fog with Almond Milk: Delicious!

People often tell me I’m a throwback to one of those old Russian writers like Solzhenitsyn---except instead of living under the unforgiving fist of a despotic regime, I must instead contend with the detachment and isolation of modern existence; and rather than honing my craft between years of forced drudgery in a brutal Soviet Gulag, I instead just spend a bunch of time eating Cool Ranch Doritos.

But I write this post to let you know, gentle reader, that while my circumstances may be different from those of, say, Zamyatin, I suffer for my craft, nevertheless—it’s just that in my case the suffering takes the form of compelling myself to repeatedly drink disgusting coffee-based beverages at a Starbucks located inside a strip mall.

Yesterday, however, I had an unexpected respite from this cavalcade of sugary drinks when I ordered a London Fog—an Earl Grey Tea latte with vanilla syrup added.  As the title of the post suggests, by recommendation I had it prepared with almond milk, and I'll mention that I had a single pump of the vanilla syrup added. This drink is absolutely delicious. Not too sweet and with delicate flavours and warm tones that linger on the tongue after each sip.

After I bought this tea latte, I took my daughter shopping for presents. I took long sips of the London Fog as we went store to store looking for a doll she wanted. I realized the drink was even more complex than I had initially thought, having subtle juxtapositions of multiple flavours. Beyond the straightforward Earl Grey and vanilla flavours, I soon identified some not-quite-tangible taste that evaded classification. At this point, I realized they were already playing Christmas music. To make matters worse, it was that song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” being sung as a duet by Rod Stewart and Dolly Parton. Memo to Retailers during the holidays: I DO NOT NEED TO HEAR ROD STEWART TALKING ABOUT HOW MUCH HE WANTS TO HAVE SEX WITH DOLLY PARTON!

Oh, and the missing flavour is lavender.  I looked it up.

Verdict: Subtle, delicious, and a perfect rainy day beverage.

Score: 8 Stars and 4 Bucks out of 10.