but I prefer an Americano with some room in it… or maybe just my espresso with a little hot water.

I buy at least one of these every day, at the convenient and delightful Cafe Vita. Part of the experience was the perfect price—for $2 even you could get a tall americano to end all tall americanos. As if God meant for me to love americanos. Then, yesterday, a day seemingly like any other, I handed my two dollars over (the whole coffee-buying experience no longer requires any activity from my frontal lobe… all of the words and motions are now stored deep in my brainstem… my REPTILE brain, and therefore I must’ve missed any slight variations from the expected such as the actual PRICE of my americano), anyway, the barista shyly said “two nineteen” while looking down at the cash register. I gasped, literally, and then screamed (surprised by my gasp). The point of the story: americanos are now $2.19. That’s absurd!