Hey, all. So far, the launch of “Light’s End,” my take on the alien invasion trope, has gone OK. Have I sold bone-crushing amounts of books to fund my very own hovercraft? No. However, by my standards, it’s been good so far. I even broke (briefly) into the top 100 of one of my categories (Sci-Fi, Colonization) on the Beast US. If you know anything about indie publishing, that’s not actively terrible.
Right now, I’m preparing several inexpensive violins for the local flea market in hopes of attracting aspiring musicians to my wares. We’ll see how that goes. They are priced to sell, with just a tad of profit to pay me for the time I have in each. Some were tougher than others, and all are a light-year better than what you’ll get in the mail from sellers on Amazon. In any case, it’s enjoyable, precision work.
But—and this is the reason for today’s post—I’ve discovered a reasonably tasty US analog to the Aussie Short Black. See the image above.
This is an easy thing. Buy a pot of Nescafe Gold Expresso at Wally World. Ensure you have a teaspoon and a means of heating water. Dip teaspoon into pot, dump it into a waiting cup. Pour about one finger of boiling water onto powder. Mix.
The resulting drink is pretty close to the Short Black, and it’s the first decent coffee I’ve had since my return. I even ordered an expensive coffee at Starbucks and paid the big bucks for an extra shot, and it was pretty lame for six USD. This concoction is pretty good and a LOT cheaper than Starbucks!
Recommend.
The Interstellar Valley 
Sorry Jason. I come from the coffee capital of Australia where we have atleast one coffee shop every thirty meters. Instant coffee is fighting words. Otherwise, Glad the launch went well and glad your trip went well.
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You did notice the title of this post, right? “The best I can do?” It’s a sad commentary on the state of affairs re: coffee that the best cup of Joe I can get around here is instant. BTW, nearest coffee shop probably twenty five minutes driving, and then it’s drip coffee. Soooo…instant it is. Which is better than drip, believe it or not. Thanks! Feedback’s been good so far re: book.
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I feel your pain. I fell in love with Vietnamese coffee and had to search out the right coffee and the paraphenalia etc. to make my own and it still only makes about a 85% quality of what i was getting in Vietnam. I salivate anytime I go near a Vietnamese cafe that sells a good coffee.
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