a comic about a book festival & a ramble about decaf

I was at Hood River last week! It was LOVELY.

Gorgeous weather, great food, deep conversations with wonderful people. Also, ICE CREAM. Sugarpine Drive-in is just off Hwy 84 if you're headed from Portland to Hood River, and it is faaabulous. I'd been seeing their picture-perfect sundaes on insta for awhile (the one in the picture is swirl ice cream, dipped in a dark chocolate shell, with pine nut honeycomb bits on top) and was all like HECK YEAH LET'S DO THIS.

The other super tasty thing I've had lately is several excellent decaf lattes. One at The Cellar Door Cafe in Lawrence, Kansas, one at Roseline in Lake Oswego, Oregon, and another right here in Southwest Portland at PDX Coffee Club. (If you're near any of these spots I HIGHLY suggest you go.)

I was devastated a few years ago when I had to give up caffeine due to migraines. I tried regular decaf, but no dice. So I started trying other things, like chicory and interesting teas and so forth, and there were some nice options, but NONE OF THEM WERE MY BELOVED COFFEE. But then! Finally! About a year into this I learned that the old chemically processed decaf has a fair bit of caffeine left in it, as my glitchy brain had noticed... BUT a newer method called Swiss Water Process (ooh, fancy) actually takes out about 99.9% of the caffeine. So I tried that. And I could drink it. AND I WAS VERY HAPPY.

Nowadays there are some amazing roasters making incredible decaf coffee, using SWP and similar methods. And then, of course, some great baristas at great cafes turning these beans into happy moments of joy to let me sail away from the current timeline for a few minutes. I also drink plenty of decaf at home, so if you're NOT near any of those cafes and would like a rec for coffee beans you can order, I particularly love the coffee that Sleepy Monk makes out of Cannon Beach. I get the decaf, obvs, but friends rave about the caf as well.

This coffee dissertation has gotten too long and I will now wrap this up. I hope you all have a nice cup of something warm and comforting, whatever floats your boat.

xo tina