I Am Not a Black Guy.

Coffee. Black. Two words that scream "bad ass".

Wait. "Bad ass" is two words. I didn't think this through.

OK. I got it.

Coffee. Black. Two words that are more manly than I am capable of being.

It's the time of year when iced drinks are way more prevalent than ever. Especially of the coffee and espresso variety. Look around and you might see people driving or walking down the street with their iced cappuccinos, frappuccinos, blended drinks, or frozen margaritas. Me? I'm more of the iced soy chai kind of guy, which brings me to the topic of this blog.

Am I less of a hard dude because I like sugar in my coffee? Mind you, we're not talking about fun dip sweet. I just mean two packets of sugar in the raw, maybe some simple syrup if it's iced.

I remember seeing an episode of How to Make It in America and one of the smaller characters mentioned that he takes his coffee black. What really stuck with me was how he ordered it. He said the two words with such gusto that they could knock out a horse with one punch. That was when I decided I would take out the milk from my coffee prep. Granted, "black with sugar" doesn't have the same umph, but I take joy in ordering black coffee at the diner and adding the sugar myself. For that split second, I am all that is man.

Now, I'm still not at the level of drinking black coffee, but I'm completely fine with that. Honestly, unless my taste buds up and move and I'm left without that wonderful sense, I'll probably always have sugar in my coffee. I take a look around at the people sitting near me in any given coffee shop and I know for a fact that there are frillier drinks in the hands of most guys.

But one thing's for certain. There is no way I'm ever using splenda.