I Had Some Dreams...They Were Clouds in my Coffee

I am a creature of habit... and borderline addiction, so it goes without saying that I begin every morning with a cup of Joe to get my eyes a blinkin' and my err other things that may or may not rhyme with "vowels" a movin'.  This is a practice so closely followed in my home that it's become borderline dogma.  We have this schmancy fancy pants "coffee system" that we received as a wedding gift years back.  It's a one cup pod model that does every thing short of raise your kids and wash your dog...but I digress.

My husband detested coffee until it became a necessary evil in law school and he refuses to add any accoutrement for reasons I still don't understand.  In my case, however, coffee is nothing more than a vehicle for dairy and legal addictive stimulants (as are all good things in life when you really think about it).  So you can imagine how it tickles me pink when a novelty creamer flavor arrives all sparkley and new under the refrigerated dairy case lights, promising peaceful mornings and sweet sweet dairy satisfaction.

Remember when Coffee-Mate had two sad little flavors, Original or French Vanilla and it only came in that icky powder that never actually fully dissolved in your coffee?  Original always puzzled me, I mean why not just call it "Cream" what exactly is so original about non-flavored flavored creamer?  But again I digress.  Long gone are the days of easy decisions in the dairy aisle.  Now Coffee-Mate offers 28 count them 28 different little bottles of creamy goodness.  I challenge you to find a creamer mecca that sells all 28 flavors (and if you do, please oh please share with the group) but I am fairly satisfied with my local market's selection...that was until the Great Holiday Creamer Upset of 2010 occurred.

I LOVE trying new flavors, and am ever so delighted when the limited-time-only seasonal line appears.  So excited that just this last week I decided to tempt the fates and skip over the Fall flavors for a brand spanking new, never before tasted, Christmas flavor...

This is the evil doer:

I know what you're thinking..."Sugar & Spice" and everything nice...that's what great coffee is made of.  Look at the little sugar cookies decorated so delightfully in royal icing and silver dragees.  There are cinnamon sticks and star anise on the packaging for crying out loud.  How on earth could we go wrong here?  But it did...it went so very very wrong.  So wrong that the coffee-mate website http://www.coffee-mate.com/default.aspx doesn't even acknowledge this flavor at all.  (In a related topic, I must say it's a snazzy little website Coffee-mate has going, complete with recipes, you should check it out, just skip this particular flavor all together.)
Have you ever put star anise in anything?  How about a cinnamon stick?  Ever left it in said thing too long?  It's disastrous people.  Tree bark does not take kindly to amateur hands.  You have to know exactly when steeping over-steps its boundaries and becomes insidious soaking.

I was so excited to try this puppy that I raced home from the market and brewed a cup of decaf lickety split.  I'll leave you with the first thought that raced through my mind...

Did I just drink tree?