When I’m sick with a cold, and have the requisite sore throat that accompanies it I make a switch from coffee to tea. I do this because I love lots of half & half in my coffee. Half & half is dairy. Dairy makes my sore throat worse. I’ve been sick for almost 2 weeks now. So this morning is my first coffee in weeks. I’ve been waiting for this morning for a while.
So I head downstairs to the kitchen. While making breakfast I begin the coffee. As I’m eating I can smell the Costa Rican Hazelnut. Or maybe I just smell the caffeine! An anxious while later and my long awaited fix is ready. A little sugar. Check. Now for the forbidden ingredient, half & half. Sweet Cream. Dairy!
I pull out the carton, it’s organic even. Check the expiration date, still days away. Open the top, put my nose to the opening (just in case). Take a sniff. It’s Spoiled! Heartbreak.
Every time I smell milk or cream in a paranoid investigation of it’s freshness I find myself questioning what I smell. If you doubt a dairy product, it always smells a bit odd. Today there was no question, it was rancid.
Instead of letting this ruin my long awaited coffee I found some powdered creamer. Not as good, but I still appreciated what I had. I realized that seemingly bad smelling dairy products are simply aromatic and wonderful when compared to the truly awful.
It’s good to get spoiled milk every once in a while.
