Things I Love About St. Pete – nombre 3 Melitta Mama

Today I braved the whackiest warehouse sale I have ever experienced. I have been to some crazy shopping places; Century 21 in lower Manhattan the day after Thanksgiving; Target in Brooklyn on the same day; the Albertson’s Liquor Store closeout; the tents sales at Home Shopping; the San Lorenzo market in Florence. Those had all prepared me for this new adventure.

A couple miles from work is the Melitta Coffee Warehouse. Melitta is a very well-known brand in the states and is featured at many restaurants around the country. I love my cup of java at least every morning and during the day it is more than just a pick-me-up, but a warm reminder that I get to go home soon. Guy spurred me on with the tempting phrase, “Patrick went one year when he was down and said it was great.” Therefore it was spoken and I must follow in Patrick’s shoes.

Patrick is one of my friends who I look up to. He’s an adventurer and a foodie and a blast to hang out with. He knows his coffee and he knows deals. I just had to do it and I trusted in his taste. Of course he didn’t steer me wrong, but what I wasn’t ready for was the masses of people on their lunch break, restauranteers and retires that filled the aisles grabbing for whatever wasn’t nailed down.

Hesitating at first arrival, I scanned the building and got my bearings about where things were located. A plethora of coffee makers over here, a cornucopia of coffees over there, it all flowed like the line snaking through the aisles with people patiently waiting to check out. Well some were patiently waiting, but we’ll get to that later.

I went through the coffeemakers and was tempted by the One/One. With individual pouches of interestingly named flavors, I thought about how convenient this would be. But then again, I would have to get everything now (didn’t have the funds for that kind of dish-out) since out in the stores those little pouches cost almost as much as Starbucks and that defeated the convenience purpose.

Next to them I spied the individual manual coffeemakers, which really is a coffee mug with a colorful filter basket on top. Only $.99, I just couldn’t resist since the coffee at work is either too pricey or just plain sucks.

Then came the coffees in ground, whole bean, cases and little one-pot packets. I was grabbing one after the other in Crème Brulee, Pecan Pie, Raspberry Truffle, Hazelnut, Sugar Cookie and other desserty kinds of treats. Then rational set in: I really don’t like all those kinds of things. Hazelnut I like, but all the others were just calling to me and I responded like a crack addict. This apparently is in my genes since I recall my father buying cases of Chek Cola and Thriftymade cookies when I was young not because I liked them, but because they were on sale. He was a definitive discount shopper, but lacked the taste to buy only the good stuff on special. I put back most of the sugary beans replacing them with Ronn’s favorites and put myself in line to check out before another moment of anxiety kicked in.

I was a lucky on, about 100th in line, I figured it wasn’t so bad, hell I had my iPod just in case. Thankfully I was in front of a nice older couple who chit chatted and fed my need for optimism as she complained briefly about having to stand for so long, and he just pointed out interesting observations in the crowd. I followed his lead and kept a smile on my face only losing it when I wondered how much I had actually filled my bag with. It took about 45 minutes and I escaped only denting my wallet for $25 and getting a bunch of fun flavors for both Ronn and I.

Now that I have had a taste of this warehouse-frenzied brew, I can prepare for next year and craft a list of treats for the holidays, a year’s supply for myself and maybe a new coffeemaker to toy with. Oh Joy!